Seems Really Difficult and Expensive

[SkyWarrior]

I've been shying away from the incubator thing because 1. the cost of an incubator and 2. the stories I hear on how hard it is to get a healthy hatching chick. And yet, there's something to be said for getting chicks out of my own birds (assuming the little buggers ever lay eggs

). I've been offered eggs of a particular breed that I want, but gosh, no incubator.

Maybe I should just find a couple of silkies and stuff some eggs under them?

 

[jjparke]

It is tough and nerve racking when you wait 21 days and have a poor hatch. However, it is also very rewarding to hatch chics from your own brood. I say go for it. Good luck.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Careful, 1 hatch..... & you're hooked

Might as well go ahead & order that incubator. You can always sell enough chicks to pay for it.

I usually have 3 styrofoams going at once,

but this year I got a

1502 Sportsman.

Can't beat it!

 

[Oven Ready]

If you have a rooster then let your hens do it themselves, if you don't then there's no point incubating your own eggs, you only end up with 21 day old eggs for breakfast.
It's lovely to watch a mother hen with eight little fuzzballs tumbling along behind her.

 

[gryeyes]

I totally agree with you. Well, I did.... until about 2 months ago.... saw Brinsea had a sale on the SMALL incubators.

But, wait, you say, what was I doing looking at incubators?

But such a deal, AND it only holds 7 eggs, I couldn't go chicken wild with that.... AND it's fully automatic with a turner and everything, and digital, and counts down and knows the date and stops the turner on day 18.... and all that stuff.... and a really good deal....

So I bought it.

THen, perusing the hatching eggs section of the BSA area - again, you say, what was I doing in there?

I just read all the posts. Shipping would probably kill the eggs anyway. So I looked for California hatching eggs, nothing I was interested in..... whew!

And then the BYC new feature of displaying auctions soon to end showed "olive eggers" and I hadda click on that. Not in California. But surely someone will get them. I bid, just to see how the system works.... never tried it before. Oh, yah, I see, and someone will best my bid.

But nobody did. I won that auction. And yesterday I set the eggs in my new Brinsea Mini Advance incubator. Now I'm gonna go buy some coffee so I can have a coffee CAN (usually get my coffee in bags) to make a home-made candler.

Again...

 

[featherz]

It's fun! I bought some eggs from here thinking that nah, I would not manage to hatch anything and now I have 21(!!!) babies. Yowsa!

 

[Baymule]

Aren't you here because you feel the tug of something you don't even quite understand? Go ahead, jump in.

 

[Kedreeva]

It's not that hard to get a 'good' hatch from your own eggs, usually. I mean, there's a lot you can do to minimize the variables which cause poor hatches, including heat and humidity, transportation (no shipping means your eggs start off with a better chance), get an automatic turner to minimize the time you need to have the bator open which can cause fluxes, keep it in a stable room, and feed your chickens right.

I'll gladly be the bad shoulder angel and say go for it! If you have purebreds, you can pay off the incubator easily or increase you egg layers or whatever. Or order in new stock!

 

[onthespot]

I've had some eggs sitting above the stove for several days, meaning to do something with them, but... I tried this morning and several of them had started to develop, cuz it has been so HOT here lately. LAWDAVMERCY!!! I thought I was going to have a big ol' omelette for breakfast and ended up with a bowl of wheat chex! What is WRONG with that picture???

Try borrowing an incubator or making yourself one from parts, not too much $, and then get some inexpensive eggs to practice on and see if it works for you. Warning, be prepared to succeed and become totally addicted... just saying...

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
I have hatched HUNDREDS if not thousands in LG still airs. I have good success now due to the experience...but I have a friend with a trio of R-COM 20s, and she gets nearly 100% every time. When an egg doesn't hatch, she is all upset and confused, because those incubators are sooooooo good. I've probably got a significantly worse return on investment in my books, because I get a poor hatch rate with shipped eggs and she STILL gets excellent rates with her rcoms. The $385 incubator seems to be an incredible value looking back.

Anyone just getting into it is likely to be discouraged by the complexity of the LG, and it seems like the push-button incubator is the way I'd go if I had it all to do again.