Incubator advice

[mopsee2000]

I am brand new to this and there are so many choices. I want a small incubator that is for a new person. I don't want to go broke but a cheap model that kills chicks would bother me also. I got about 1000000000000000000000000 hits when I Googled it. Here's what I am thinking of getting. I need thoughts.

Miller Mfg Circulated Air Incubator with Fan

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[Nocila]

Personally, I'd probably make one. There seems to be higher results for a very small fraction of the cost. (I keep seeing some that cost $20 to make, and hold several eggs, versus $30 incubators with fairly low hatch rates, and only enough space for 3 chicken eggs.)

 

[Spongegirl]

well its not the incubator that kills the chicks, its the operator techniques I have limited experience but my vote is the little giant forced air. I lost eggs because I didn't follow the printed directions but rather read a how to article on here. You will lose eggs but you will gain knowledge. I had free eggs to practice on from my own pet quality flock before moving on to better quality stock eggs. I wouldn't spend big bucks on an incubator, you might try hatching and hate it.

 

[blucoondawg]

I too would stick with the Styrofoam incubator with fan, I got the Farm Innovators model with a turner for 92 dollars on sale it is normally right around 100 dollars, it holds 42 eggs I think in the turner. No matter what incubator you get you will likely loose some chicks starting out and may never achieve 100% hatches, that is just how it works. No matter which incubator you get the first thing you need to do is get a reliable incubator and hygrometer, they need not be expensive ones but they need to be fairly accurate, I have yet to see a low end starter incubator which has an accurate thermometer on it and that is what kills chicks. Also study on this website about humidity and it's purpose in the hatch. You will lose some chicks but it isn't rocket science you should be able to get decent results after a try or 2.

Another word of advice is to get an incubator that is sized properly for what you plan to hatch, if you only want to do 6 or 12 eggs at a time then don't get a incubator that is built to hold 40, they seem to be sized to run properly with a full load, if you do run less than full loads fill the empty space with water jars or rocks or something to absorb and hold on to the heat.

 

[blucoondawg]

Personally, I'd probably make one. There seems to be higher results for a very small fraction of the cost. (I keep seeing some that cost $20 to make, and hold several eggs, versus $30 incubators with fairly low hatch rates, and only enough space for 3 chicken eggs.)

If you know how to do it and have access to some of the materials you may be able to build cheaper than buy but if you figure in an auto turner which most small homemade incubators don't have, I'd rather buy. I don't know where you get your statistics but I don't see where the small homemade incubators have better results than store bought, in fact I read many people looking for info on how to improve their homemade rigs, it often takes some tweaking to figure out how to get a homemade one to work right, there is a little more to it than throwing a light bulb in a Styrofoam cooler. The store bought models at least have the bugs worked out and simply require the operator to learn to run them properly.

 

[Nocila]

Interesting, I've been looking at the reviews for new ones, and most of them had some pretty horrible reviews. I've seen a few posts with homemade incubators that have had some really good results, and weren't overly expensive.

 

[blucoondawg]

Generally the worst reviews will be on the still air models, those are your cheapest Styrofoam incubators, they tend to have lower hatch rates because they have hot and cold spots due to not having air movement, with a small step up you get a fan to equalize the temp throughout and they seem to have better success but still be affordable. They require proper setup in a good location where they will not have large temp swings and they require looking in on a couple times a day to see to it that nothing is out of whack but they are capable incubators if the operator does their part. Some people prefer a machine that will do everything for them, those are far more expensive and may or may not have better hatch rates.

 

[Spongegirl]

Im thinking of getting a still air and put one of those dollar cheapy battery hand fans in it and see what happens. For now, with my forced air little giant is getting about an 85% rate...120 eggs and 50 chicks later...lol.