This a good incubator?

[Marissa Van]

Look at this on eBay:

LITTLE GIANT EGG INCUBATOR/TURNER/CANDLER/THERMOMETER CHICKEN/QUAIL/REPTILE

http://bit.ly/1hjuNzp


Please give advice or help for a newbie

 

[HEChicken]

Little Giants are notoriously difficult to hatch in - I would steer clear of those. They are a lot more pricey but I'm really happy with my R-Com. It is truly a set it and forget it machine and if an egg doesn't hatch in it, it is because it was not fertile - whereas with some of the cheaper machines you can do everything "right" and still get eggs that don't hatch.

 

[dc3085]

Look at this on eBay:

LITTLE GIANT EGG INCUBATOR/TURNER/CANDLER/THERMOMETER CHICKEN/QUAIL/REPTILE

http://bit.ly/1hjuNzp


Please give advice or help for a newbie

Not bad for the price. If you ordered just an egg turner its $60 so $80 for the whole incubator isn't bad. If you stay at this for any lenght of time you will probably outgrow this unit but you can always just resell it on craigslist, incubators don't go down much in value, unless they are real junk.

Maybe tell me a little more about how many eggs and how often you plan to hatch them and I could give further advice.

You can also build an incubator pretty easily if you have tools and are handy with them or know anyone who is.

 

[Marissa Van]

Not bad for the price. If you ordered just an egg turner its $60 so $80 for the whole incubator isn't bad. If you stay at this for any lenght of time you will probably outgrow this unit but you can always just resell it on craigslist, incubators don't go down much in value, unless they are real junk. 

Maybe tell me a little more about how many eggs and how often you plan to hatch them and I could give further advice. 

You can also build an incubator pretty easily if you have tools and are handy with them or know anyone who is. 

I think that once I am going to start I'm just going to buy this incubator. I have heard that home made ones don't always work out great. So I think I'd rather have one that has a warranty and comes with everything since I'm new at all this. We don't plan on doing a lot we do not want more then 20 birds at a time. We are going to raise them for meat and for eggs for friends and family. We are transforming our shed into a cook/brooder. Thank you for your advice your the only one that's helped me with advice.

 

[HEChicken]

…. your the only one that's helped me with advice.

Really? Or was that just the first person to say what you wanted to hear? If you ask a question, you need to be prepared to also hear the answer you DIDN'T want to hear, which is the advice I gave you.

I would suggest before you commit to anything, that you do a search on the forum for information on the Little Giant. There are probably hundreds of threads over the years dedicated to the issues people have maintaining temp/humidity in them, so, while I have never owned one, when I was on my own quest for a good incubator, I decided not to purchase one, based on some of those threads. In the end, for me, it came down to, if I have bad hatch after bad hatch, I'm only going to get frustrated and discouraged and feel the money was not well spent after all.

As for generalizing home-built incubators, you simply can't. There are so many methods for making them, using so many different materials and the results are just as varied. I personally built two home-builts prior to my R-Com purchase, and from them, got many 100% hatches from my own eggs, and a 35% hatch rate from shipped Coturnix Quail eggs. The only reason I "upgraded" to the R-Com was that my home-built did not have a turner and I was going to be traveling for days at a time during incubation, so needed a way for the eggs to be turned in my absence.

 

[Marissa Van]

Really?  Or was that just the first person to say what you wanted to hear?  If you ask a question, you need to be prepared to also hear the answer you DIDN'T want to hear, which is the advice I gave you

No your just the first person to actually respond on a thread. I have and will continue doing my research before I purchase one. I do not want to get one that I'll have multiple problems with.
I know I defiantly need one that has a turner because I will be working and can not be home for turning them 3 times a day.

 

[gander007]

I have a G.Q.F that I bought in 1997 and have great success with but also
many regrets with as the less them egg's travel the better of your hatch
will be but remember clean, clean, clean the thing out and always run the
incubator at the desired temp and read, read, read how to hatch your egg's
and I learned the hard way do not wash your egg's off and a deformed
egg is a 80% chance no hatch and the fresher the better now mail order
is a 50/50 roll of the dice and really you have a better odds at the crap table
but follow the instructions as I have hatched Ducks, Geese, chucker, Quail,
Chickens and I just finished 25 out of 32 and now after five days I have 24
chicks left but I also have a G.Q.F. brooder to help me along the way and
do not for get the Probiotic for the water after the hatch to help them along
the way..... but after you get what ever you buy do a dry run using up the
full 21 days and get something to record temp and humidity write it all down
keep your own day to day records or chart as nothing is as easy as it looks
just practice makes it easy ............

I hope you have a great deal of fun in your endeavors and don't
forget to have some fun and get some one to enjoy your time with .......
Who knows you might be the next Chicken King ...........


gander007

 

[Marissa Van]

Thank you for the advice! I am very excited to do this. We are just trying to figure out supplies and get the best things possible for a decent price. I have read up a lot on raising quail. I also am getting fresh eggs to start from a local farmer here that has about 50 quail buying eggs.

also was wondering how many birds I should start off with?
And is it recommended 2 or 3 females to one male?
I have so many questions! lol

 

[gander007]

With Quail you can put them in a cage ten feet long is what I did for a wile and as deep as your arm so I could catch them
but to each his own but 3 females to one male is about as far as I would go no more and how many depends on your time
and recourses .... They make a great meal in the end and the bobwhite make a nice southing sound....

Very important to get every thing before you start and an egg turner is a must unless you want to devote your time to
the incubator and getting plenty of soap or gloves and make sure you have every thing clean before and after the hatch
after that a good brooder setup then some growing cages ........ Feed them Turkey grow 20% and this you should have read
somewhere and do not for get the Probiotic in the water first thing and Gro-Gel Plus B (with Bacteria) in the once the first
week of life ......... Happy hatching .....
Oh that all work or people would not be buying from them for so many years and if you stay in it for a long time you just
might buy the big boys toys ...... But first worry about starting .........

gander007

 

[Marissa Van]

Thanks. I will for sure get everything ready and prepared before we start. Don't want to get myself into a bind. thanks for all the great advice!