Recommendation for an Incubator (Beginner!)

[CSDeVault]

Hello,

I am hoping for recommendations for an incubator. I am not planning to hatch chicks on a frequent basis (at least at this point in time) but rather merely want my kids to experience the process! I was thinking of one of the simple 7 egg incubators however there are a lot of negative comments associated with some of these models. I am open to paying the cost of one of the high end models which accommodate 20+ eggs however I think this would be a bit of an overkill. Honestly hatching 3-4 chicks would be just fine. Perhaps I should invest in a high end unit but again I am not sure if this is necessary or not. Any advice/feedback would be very much appreciated! Thank you in advance.

 

[RodNTN]

Hi there! And

Do you want to put a lot of work into taking care of the incubator, cleaning it after use? etc.

There are many incubators out there, Styrofoam incubators are cheap, and if you learn how to use them (it takes a lot of work to tweak some Styrofoam incubators) they can be fantastic bators!

If you want a good incubator, and if you are willing to pay more, a Brinsea would be a very great investment.

If you want a smaller incubator, the Brinsea mini II advance automatic 7 incubator sounds like a great little incubator!

But just a fair warning... once you begin hatching it can get addictive

 

[Chicks 'n ducks]

Hi there! And

Do you want to put a lot of work into taking care of the incubator, cleaning it after use? etc.

There are many incubators out there, Styrofoam incubators are cheap, and if you learn how to use them (it takes a lot of work to tweak some Styrofoam incubators) they can be fantastic bators!

If you want a good incubator, and if you are willing to pay more, a Brinsea would be a very great investment.

If you want a smaller incubator, the Brinsea mini II advance automatic 7 incubator sounds like a great little incubator!

But just a fair warning... once you begin hatching it can get addictive

X2

 

[Miss717]

Janoel 12

 

[pennyJo1960]

hova bator, incuview, brinsea or Janoel12 brinsea and janoel12 are pretty easy the others take more tweaking

 

[Birdinhand]

part of the chicken math equation is that every year, toward the end of winter, many chicken keepers get an irresistible urge to have more chicks. for those of us with kids, there appears to be no plausible excuse for not getting more chicks. incubation, candling, hatching and the up close and personal experience of in home hand raising, are amongst some of the most precious memories I have of my childhood and passing this on to my kids has meant that we now are buying an incubator instead of making one or borrowing one. from all that I can tell, incuview strikes a very nice balance between precision, ease of mind and economy. chances are, you will use it again... and again... and again. here is the manufacturers web site:
http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incuview-advanced-combo-kit.html

I believe if you contact the seller, they sometimes have deals on refurbished units, about half price so about $85. I would recommend getting the one with the digital hydrometer or contacting the seller and buying one to use in your refurbished unit.

 

[KYBOY]

For just a styro bator its hard to beat a 1588. We still use several of them along with our dicky. Not the cheapest but a proven peformer

 

[jay873]

Don't get the cheap 7 egg incubators off the internet they are trash you wont get a single egg to hatch they are practically a scam.

It's the one in the picture I posted it's worthless

But the brinsea one is good. just not the ones that look like the one below

 

[Cot Cot]

I absolutely love my Brinsea Mini Advance which holds up to 7 eggs with the turner. You can have 10 eggs as well but you will then need to hand turn. It does everything for you and is right on with reliability.
I forgot to add "YES" it is addicting, you will be hatching more.

 

[Birdinhand]

Don't get the cheap 7 egg incubators off the internet they are trash you wont get a single egg to hatch they are practically a scam.

It's the one in the picture I posted it's worthless

But the brinsea one is good. just not the ones that look like the one below

That looks like an upgrade to the POS they used to sell with qual eggs when I was a kid, LOL! the one I got with mine as a kid was such a joke. one small lightbulb, no way to measure humidity, a super craptastic paper thermometer, the thin plastic dome and a yellow plastic base, no way to adjust temperature :~() ... it was a miracle I even got one egg to hatch!