Incubators which is best. So confused.

[Flygirl1987]

Hi there! Ok I am new to Peafowl but have quite a few. I hated about 20 chicks in 2023 from what I bought as “juvenile birds” much to my surprise. I used a Hatching Time CT-180 incubator. Now I will say many didn’t hatch but that was my fault making newbie mistakes honestly.

Now next year I have many more breeding pairs. I plan to use the Hatching Time incubators (CT-60 and CT-180) for hatching only.

I am a bit confused about what would be the best brand incubator or incubators to buy for the best hatch rates. All of the breeders I have spoken to either use the redwood incubators that are no longer made or GQF. What is confusing me is that everything I read about incubating eggs say the turning and the humidity is very important. The GQF incubators don’t have automatic temperature control, and honestly I don’t have time to sit all the time managing humidity in an incubator when there are quite a few that manage humidity automatically as well as turning. Although most incubators only turn 45 degrees when they need to be turned 180 twice or three times a day.

So I have a decent budget, so please advise what incubators you use and why. I really do think I need automatic humidity control since I do leave the house sometimes for 12 hours.

Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge!

 

[Cackle Berry House]

GFQ 1588 is the bomb!! Digital Temp and humidity once you get it right inside it holds. Love them!!! And very reasonable. Way more stress free than the older models.

 

[Flygirl1987]

Thank You so much for responding. I need a much much larger incubator as I have 18 breeding pair of Peafowl with another 17 juvenile birds hatched 2023. So I believe I would need 2 of the Sportsman GQF. I still don’t understand how you can go away for a day and keep this at 61% humidity.

 

[Debbie292d]

We have two, but the NR 360 which was our only one for a while recently became the lockdown incubator.

You'd more like the other one, a Brinsea 56 EX. We hooked up a gallon bottle of distilled water, stick the hose in, and it lasts for months. The downfall is the egg rotation I think is 45 degrees.

Have you seen this one though? It has a programmable rotation of 45-180 degrees, but whoa, a lot pricier too.

Brinsea 56 Zoologica

 

[Cackle Berry House]

I dont know about the Sportsman yet (next purchase after first of the year) but the 1588 has been between 38% and 42% humidity for the last 6 days... I was amazed.

 

[Flygirl1987]

We have two, but the NR 360 which was our only one for a while recently became the lockdown incubator.

You'd more like the other one, a Brinsea 56 EX. We hooked up a gallon bottle of distilled water, stick the hose in, and it lasts for months. The downfall is the egg rotation I think is 45 degrees.

Have you seen this one though? It has a programmable rotation of 45-180 degrees, but whoa, a lot pricier too.

Brinsea 56 Zoologica

Thank you Debbie 292D. Yes i would like one, and the price isn’t prohibitive, but the number of Peafowl eggs it will hold is. I should have said in the beginning that I have four pairs of breeding pheasants. So my Hatching times incubators — one holds 60 chicken eggs and one hold 180 chicken eggs were completely full last year at times. I only had 4 pair of breeding and laying pairs. The capacity of the two incubators will hold 112 Peafowl eggs at a time. Lots were not even fertile because of their age. I even bought a Brinsea just in case I ran out of room. Yes I like the description much more, but I would have to buy four or five,

 

[Flygirl1987]

Ok I found a fully automatic incubator on Stromberg’s website, and it is called the Room Maru Deluxe Max 380. It is fully automatic turning and humidity wiith four circulating fans and will hold152 Peafowl eggs. Does anyone have any experience or information about how reliable for Peafowl eggs? It has the features I want, but does it perform?

 

[Fluffy_Moth_With_Silkies]

GFQ 1588 is the bomb!! Digital Temp and humidity once you get it right inside it holds. Love them!!! And very reasonable. Way more stress free than the older models.

Yeah, I've heard the same.

 

[KsKingBee]

My experience with GQF was not a good one, personally I think they are trash but some people like them. If you are expecting a high hatch rate with any machine you will be greatly disappointed. Peas are hard to hatch for a lot of reasons but absolute control of heat and humidity is a must for me and some years even with that edge I am still not getting the hatch rate I want. I calculate you will be setting over 50 eggs per week, that is one rack that will hold up to 66. A 380 will hold 198 which is what I set every week during the season. Pictured is six 380's and one 190 hatcher and a 416 Leahy, one 380 is a dedicated hatcher. The hatching baskets I make are the bomb too.