Styrofram incubator comparded to a cabit incubator

[woodchips]

I started off my first hatch with a name brand styrofoam incubator with a fan kit and a automatic egg tuner I sat 41 egg, 9 eggs hatched,Last month I went to the TSC an looked on there bulletin boardan there was a Incurbator for sale .I called the lady she said it was a cabit style incubator .I went an brought it home set it up and I sat 33 eggs . 3 of the were not fertile the rest looked ok. 26 hatch 1 died abouth the tenth day. I am still waiting 3 more to see if they will hatch a little late. But I would never though the incubator would make that much difference. But after what I saw I am changing my mine .What is best incubator for the highest number of hatching rate for somebody just starting out, and what type bator do you use and what is your hatch rate?

 

[BeccaOH]

I started with foam incubators (LG and HB). I had good results with them -- though the best hatches were always the ones I hand turned. I don't like the turners in those foam ones. I actually still find the Hovabator best for my waterfowl eggs, especially geese (hand turning). I feel I have more control over humidity. I do love my Dickey cabinet incubator, though. It holds a lot and the turner does seem more effective than the one in the foam incubators. Overall I wouldn't say I saw a drastic increase in my hatches between hand-turning in an LG or HB compared to the cabinet with auto turner, but it is better and holds more.

I still use the foam incubators for the actual hatching days. The hatch tray in the bottom of my Dickey doesn't allow me to observe -- and that's the fun part.