someone can recommend which brand to buy an incubator?thanks

[mariolo]

Hello
I would buy a small incubator chicken eggs of 20-30.
In your experience what do you recommend that is reliable and good quality and price.
Thanks

 

[NonnasBabies]

Brinsea!! It's a great incubator!!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Brinsea does make hobby hatching very easy, plus the unit can put in the dishwasher when done to clean it. We use 4 right now, but going to upgrade to a cabinet keeping only 1 Brinsea.

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Which Brinsea model have you got? The instructions for my Octagon specifically say do not immerse in water and do not put in the dishwasher...

But yes, Brinsea bators are very good quality, And their customer service is excellent as well.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

I run them on a cold cycle wash (old dishwasher hooked only to cold water) the tops never go in, but the bottom and the tray both do. Canned air helps clean the top, sometimes the screws need removing to clean better. Eco 20 advanced.

 

[AZBootsie]

I love my Brinsea

The eco 20 with turner has turned out to be perfect for me. The brinsea eco glow chick brooder is also well worth the money.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are three brands that are most popular on this forum. Remember you get what you pay for. By the way, I have the middle one, a Genesis Hovabator.

The Little Giants are the least expensive. Several people have them but you see a lot of complaints about them. I'm not really familiar with these.

The Genesis Hovabators are the middle class. They are made of styrofoam, require a little more care during incubation, but usually work pretty well.

The Brinsea are the most expensive and take the least amount of care, are made of plastic, and recover humidity pretty quickly compared to the others.

The difference in the styrofoam and plastic is that the plastic ones are easier to clean if they get messy, which can occur if an egg explodes or during hatch. The Hovabators come with tha plastic tray that fits in the bottom to hold the water. Those plastic trays make cleanup pretty easy, but if any of the mess gets on the styrofoam, it is harder to clean. You do need to clean the incubator between hatches.

With the Hovabator, you handle humidity by putting water in different reservoirs in that plastic tray. It is a little hard to see the water level in those trays so it is possible to overfill them and you cannot tell at a glance when the water has run out. I handle that by keeping a hygrometer in there to tell me the humidity. When the humidity starts to drop, it is time to add water. Mine recovers heat and humidity pretty fast when I open it to add water, but probably not as fast as the Brinsea.

I don't have the Brinsea but I understand it holds water in an outside reservoir, monitors the humidity, and pumps water to manage humidity. It has a few moving parts and it is always possible those tubes could get plugged, especially if your water is hard, but they are well-made, are simple to use, and are pretty dependable. Simple to use is important.

I only do a couple of hatches a year so I could not justify the extra money for the Brinsea. If i Iwere doing several hatches a year, my choice would be the Brinsea.

I do recommend you get the automatic turner, whichever make and model you get. They cost a bit but make it so much easier to not have to be there to turn the eggs or even remember to turn them. Mine is made of hard plastic so is pretty easy to clean.

I also recommend a forced air instead of a still air. They keep the temperature pretty constant throuhgout the incubator where with the still air, since hot air rises, you do get different temperatures at different levels. The main reason to recommend forced air is it is easier to get warm or cool spots in the still air. Since the eggs develop at different speeds at different temperatures, you can get some pretty long drawn-out hatches, or the difference may be enough that some eggs just don't hatch. A lot of people use still air incubators, but they are a little more finicky.

Anyway this is my opinion. I'm pretty happy with the Hovabator 1588 but I have no doubt the Brinsea is a better incubator.

 

[Arielle]

I'm using an LG.

It requires some set up like calibrating thermometers and setting temperature is turning a knob without any marks (you find your own setting). Manual says temp is on top of eggs; this may work for fan-operated LG but not for still (rep at LG instructed me to read temp at half the height of the eggs; that meant cutting stryofoam cups to hold thermometers).

I wouldn't recommend this to the first timer UNLESS you are detail oriented, with a lot of patience to set it up 3-4 days in advance . It is do-able--many people do have success with the LG from what I have read; others do not like it.

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

i love my Rcom!!! it's fool proof

the temp and humidity never fluctuate and are always on the setting i have it set to! being this is my first time hatching i love that i don't have to worry about or mess with fluctuating temps and such

 

[chickenjoe]

I own a Hovabator like the LG I would run it for 4-5 days before sticking the eggs in also get it with the fan It seem to stablize the temp highs and lows. I have only hatched twice so far once with chicken eggs and right now I have 56 quail eggs. I incubated 12 chicken eggs out 8 of 12 hatched. I let you know how I do with this hatch. This hatch instead of using the water tray, I'm using a wet sponge seem to work better than the tray. You just have keep wetting it daily. I might try putting the sponge in a jar with water so act like a wick. Something I seen on this forum. I would also recommend getting an automatic turn.