Incubator for Shipped Eggs

[Jedstar]

So I'm looking for another incubator that can do a couple dozen or more at one time. My budget is around $150. And these will all be shipped eggs. So I can pretty much bank on detached air cells.

So I'm not sure what to buy. Brinsea, I would like but just can't go there $$$$$ at this time.

I know shipped eggs with detached air cells have a better chance if standing upright vs laid down, so I've read. And I need stable temps/humidity that can handle fluxuations in both outside of the bator.

I like what I'm reading/seeing on the incuview and the nurture 360. Though the nurture 360 is only 22 eggs. And both are lay down bators.

I'm not sure if there's the possibility of putting stand up trays or egg cartons in either one. Anyone do this successfully?

I also looked at the ones with the long yellow egg tray inserts that stand the eggs up. Although not sure if it's stable enough or if silkie eggs do well in them. Haven't seen the greatest of reviews on them but most concerns I think can be fixed with minor alterations to the inside flooring. Anyone have luck with these, with shipped eggs? Are they stable in temps/humidity?

i currently have a small 12 eggs incubator that I have to babysit a lot. So stability is important to me but Im literally intimidated by hovabators and the likes, as I'm new to incubating...

Comments, feedback, suggestions are all welcome. Thank you in advance.

I bought a 48 egg janoel incubator. I was going to get a 24 egg janoel. Can't remember how much that one was though. They are on poultraustralia.com

 

[BrinseaUS]

@BrinseaUS no bueno for this poor lady. Free incubators!! ...for everyone on this thread? Lol.. Seriously though, I'll prob own one of yours eventually too, like when I'm a thousandaire..

I would love to give everyone free incubators! But I don't think my boss would be very happy Amazon usually has good deals on our incubators, although you've probably already checked there.

 

[SilkieLoverFarm]

I have the incuview and am happy with it. Mine does require some babysitting, but I feel that is my fault. I have it in the utility room and there’s a lot of coming and going to the garage, so the room temp is unstable. It’s a convenient spot for me, though. A little fluctuation is not a huge deal. Mama hen isn’t perfectly uniform either. You just want to avoid over-heating or cooling them for a long enough time to change the internal temp of the egg. I don’t know how long that would be, but my hatches have gone well so far. I have some of my own in there now. Ten days to go... So far, so good.

I was concerned about the lay-down egg position too, but in two hatches of shipped eggs, every egg (but one) that began to develop, hatched a healthy chick or duckling. The one that didn’t, failed early. None of the air cells were stable. What I did was set them (at temp) broad side up in a paper egg carton for the first couple of days. You can fit two of these in the incubator with the turner removed. After that I put in the turner and placed the eggs inside the rails.

Whether that helped I can’t say, but I don‘t think the non-developers were the incubator’s fault. IMO they got knocked around too much in shipping or weren’t fertile to begin with.

I don’t know whether you could rig this incubator to accept a conventional turner. People do all sorts of amazing things, but I’m not handy with machines. I think you’d probably be into it for more money than you wanted to spend though, however inventive a person you might be.

Good luck on your hatch!! I think you and I might have the same hatch date or close to. Mine are due on the 31st. I candled last night and sadly I'm down to three but they look like a strong 3. I am praying for those little babies!! These are from shipped eggs that were extremely porous, detached and saddled. Look like older eggs to me too. But if I get three, I will be super happy!

And thank you for all the great information. Everyone certainly does do everything a little differently but I'm glad to hear you had good luck putting them in a normal turner. I have been so reluctant to do so with these guys.

 

[SilkieLoverFarm]

I have a couple of the Brinsea Octagons and they're great. I also have several Hova-Bators (2 of the 1588, and a 2370 that I use as a hatcher)...no need to be intimidated. And you can clean and disinfect them well. If you go the Hova-Bator route, I strongly recommend an independent thermometer, in particular, and a hygrometer. I've found these units to be dependable and capacity is about 50 chicken eggs, so plenty of room. I use a Little Giant autoturner with the 1588 and it works like a charm - have hatched shipped eggs successfully in them, too. Best of luck!

Thank you so much. You did calm my nerves a little bit about the hovabator. They seem like they would be very stable to me. Good to hear from a couple on this thread that use them and get good results. The FI 4250, looks like one to me. Similar.

I am the thermometer humidity gadget Queen.. seriously though, I have four different thermometers in my current incubator now. Lol. It is SO Overkill. But that's me as a first-time shipped egg incubator-er person. Lol. I think I need a little bit of confidence in this.. haha. Maybe that will come when I am a matured incubator-er. Haha.

 

[SilkieLoverFarm]

I bought a 48 egg janoel incubator. I was going to get a 24 egg janoel. Can't remember how much that one was though. They are on poultraustralia.com

Do you love it? Does it have great hatch rates? Do you hatch shipped eggs out of it?

 

[Jedstar]

Do you love it? Does it have great hatch rates? Do you hatch shipped eggs out of it?

Yeah I love it. I hatched posted eggs out of it. The last lot of eggs. 12 RIR I got 9 hatch. Its automatic turning. Has fan flow.I also have a 12 egg janoel incubator. That one does have the humidity reading on that. You have to just go by the 100ml of water in the bottom method.

 

[SilkieLoverFarm]

I'm glad you found that information useful! Sometimes I feel like I get a little long winded in my replies!

As far as humidity returning to normal with the 360 I usually only lift the lid a little when I need to get into my incubator during hatching. It usually doesn't drop too much maybe 10% or so and it does return quickly (usually in less than a minute for me). I do live in a rather humid area so that might help. The brinsea is also good about not dropping too much and returning quickly. Both incubators don't drop in temperature too much and return pretty quickly as well.

I have to manually turn with my brinsea, the nice thing about the octagon 20 is that since it is octagonal you are meant to just tip the whole incubator to one side or the other to turn so you don't have to individually turn the eggs. The only downside to this I've found is the temperature on the low side and high side are a little different but I still get good hatches so I guess the difference isn't a biggy (just stresses me out if I start worrying about it too much).

Here's a pic of the candling through the window on the 360. I hatch mostly silkie eggs which are generally cream to light brown and I can tell when they "draw down" internally pip and when their breathing starts to become more steady. I would guess darker shelled eggs would be harder to candle though and you won't get as good of a view as candling with the light right up against the egg. I've been spoiled with hatching in the 360 and hate that I can't do the same in my brinsea. Also I love that I don't have to open the incubator to get more water in the 360 since the entrance to the wells is on the outside, another great pro there! The major cons are minor, it's a little more annoying to clean than my brinsea and the lid is a lot more awkward to lift than the brinseas.

View attachment 2008313

So I bought the 360. Lol. Love how stable it is! If this works this good, I might buy another down the road

Just tried candling through the window, not on lockdown yet. They're in the turner. But couldn't see the air cell at all. Tried 3 different lights that I use to candle. What light are you using? Do you angle a special way? I tried a bunch of different ways. Can you usually see the air cell while in the turner? Seems like in your pic, it's the same distance away.

Patience with eggs is not my strong suit.. lol

 

[Jedstar]

So I bought the 360. Lol. Love how stable it is! If this works this good, I might buy another down the road

Just tried candling through the window, not on lockdown yet. They're in the turner. But couldn't see the air cell at all. Tried 3 different lights that I use to candle. What light are you using? Do you angle a special way? I tried a bunch of different ways. Can you usually see the air cell while in the turner? Seems like in your pic, it's the same distance away.

Patience with eggs is not my strong suit.. lol

Hello.I normally just very quickly but carefully have the lid of and check my eggs in the dark room with my phone torch or with a torch. If there clyose to lockdown you have to hold the egg and hold the torch on it and carefully move the egg until you see some movement or a shape or figure. The more hatching you do you'll get better at it. I'm gradually getting better. But can't be to long checking the eggs.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

So I bought the 360. Lol. Love how stable it is! If this works this good, I might buy another down the road

Just tried candling through the window, not on lockdown yet. They're in the turner. But couldn't see the air cell at all. Tried 3 different lights that I use to candle. What light are you using? Do you angle a special way? I tried a bunch of different ways. Can you usually see the air cell while in the turner? Seems like in your pic, it's the same distance away.

Patience with eggs is not my strong suit.. lol

I'm late to this thread but I rather obsessively hatched chicks last year and I readily accepted every incubator that I found a good deal on, lol! You made a good choice on the Nurture Right 360 in my opinion, I now have 2 Nurture Right 360s, an IncuView, and a Hovabator, but I also used a Farm Innovators, Little Giant, and the dreaded China Bator. The order in which I just listed them is my personal preference, so even after trying all of the incubators out, the Nurture Right is still my favorite.

I primarily hatch locally sourced eggs but the one hatch I did in the Nurture Right with shipped eggs went better than expected considering many of the eggs I received had detached or saddled air cells upon arrival and I still had a 88% hatch rate and I placed them directly into the horizontal turner after allowing them to rest.

You might not be able to see the air cell as readily with fresh eggs because as the chick develops the air cell also grows and it lights up better.
I use a small high lumen flashlight for candling and it works fantastic.

 

[SilkieLoverFarm]

Hello.I normally just very quickly but carefully have the lid of and check my eggs in the dark room with my phone torch or with a torch. If there clyose to lockdown you have to hold the egg and hold the torch on it and carefully move the egg until you see some movement or a shape or figure. The more hatching you do you'll get better at it. I'm gradually getting better. But can't be to long checking the eggs.

I just candled them last night and moved them over into the new incubator. So I'm trying to do the through the window method. Because honestly I hate having to wait and I want to know they're okay.. lol. But I also know that I shouldn't take them out again tonight and look at them again. So I'm trying really really hard, not to. Heh