What incubator is the best buy for a newbie hatcher?

[GodofPecking]

Ah, no it's not like that an 'automatic incubator turns the eggs. A manual incubator does everything else except turns the eggs. Or, at least, it does the temperature. Get a manual incubator I have 8 chicks here on each side of the desk I'm typing at which hatched from a manual incubator. There is practically nothing that needs doing with them, all you do is tilt the eggs to the opposite direction before you sleep and after you wake and at any random time you like during the day. It's not rocket science, it's just random really. I've done it heaps. Sometimes if you think it is a very dry day you can pour a little water into the bottom of the incubator, but otherwise I just don't put water in at all.

The most important thing about making an incubator in an old fridge is to be able to 'plan' your chicken empire which will take over the world. DON'T LET YOUR HANDYMAN FOIL YOUR EVIL PLANS. Get help from some other evil handyman, or threaten to, in order to bend him to your will. Sure you won't hatch 500 eggs at a time but who cares, it's so that you just know that you could take over the world at a whim if you cared to. Also, if you fill those empty spaces with bottles of water, the incubator can ignore blackouts a whole lot better than any other kind or model of incubator, full stop.

 

[bauerdog]

Ah, no it's not like that an 'automatic incubator turns the eggs. A manual incubator does everything else except turns the eggs. Or, at least, it does the temperature. Get a manual incubator I have 8 chicks here on each side of the desk I'm typing at which hatched from a manual incubator. There is practically nothing that needs doing with them, all you do is tilt the eggs to the opposite direction before you sleep and after you wake and at any random time you like during the day. It's not rocket science, it's just random really. I've done it heaps. Sometimes if you think it is a very dry day you can pour a little water into the bottom of the incubator, but otherwise I just don't put water in at all.

The most important thing about making an incubator in an old fridge is to be able to 'plan' your chicken empire which will take over the world. DON'T LET YOUR HANDYMAN FOIL YOUR EVIL PLANS. Get help from some other evil handyman, or threaten to, in order to bend him to your will. Sure you won't hatch 500 eggs at a time but who cares, it's so that you just know that you could take over the world at a whim if you cared to. Also, if you fill those empty spaces with bottles of water, the incubator can ignore blackouts a whole lot better than any other kind or model of incubator, full stop.

Lol. That handyman does think I am trying to take over the chicken world. All the griping I have seen over humidity! I live in NJ, do you live somewhere comparable in climate? I would never have thought hatching was so complicated until I read some of these threads!

 

[lazy gardener]

I find that my handy man is much less likely to object to my many projects (I do most of them with minimal handyman input) when he sees the egg money coming in.

 

[bauerdog]

Yes, the handyman is more willing to assist in projects that wind up feeding him. No problem getting an additional 16 x 16 ft raised garden bed. But an incubator? Crazy talk, how MANY chicks do you really need?!?

 

[GodofPecking]

It's not a question of how many you need, that's like asking how many old cars you need in your yard. It's a nonsensical question. It's a question of how many chickens does it take to take over the world, under your evil plans.

Then it's a matter of steps, because you have to be practical, so you can look at it like a 100 egg incubator can hatch 100 chickens which will each hatch 100 and each of those will hatch 100, making 1,000,000 evil minions. So a 100 egg incubator is a practical machine to keep in your house so that you can take over the world in three easy steps, or at least have fresh eggs, either one is good.

 

[bauerdog]

nailed it. We actually do have an old car in the driveway!