What Incubator is the best?

[Newbee2012]

I need to know what you think is the best incubator out there. I am looking at purchasing one and would love to know your thoughts.

I have heard alot of good things about dry incubating can anybody tell me more? I had borrowed an incubator from a friend and had ok luck with my hatch, but their incubator is older. Please lay it on me. Thanks

 

[gabrielle1976]

http://www.brinsea.com/products/octagon20A.html

http://www.brinsea.com/products/mini.html

http://www.strombergschickens.com/product/RCOM-20-Pro-Digital-Incubator/advanced-incubators



I havent had any of these but these are some of the ones people say work really well. I will never be able to aford one though lol

 

[Newbee2012]

Thanks for the info.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Those are just some of the "best" if you want the best for a tighter wallent there is another thread around here where I posted some good ones for less

 

[WinklerFarms]

Need more info. How big of one are you looking for. If you want a small one the brinsea oct20 or 40 is the way to go. If you are looking for a cabinet style you will get all kinds of different answers on what is "best" I have the sportsman 1502 digital and love it and just got done with a great hatch. 78 out of about 90 is fine with me.


How much are you willing to spend?

 

[Newbee2012]

I don't need a huge one just big enough to do some "hobby" hatching. I was thinking between $100 to $200.But I do want a really good one. How much was the one you have? Do you know anything about dry incubating?

 

[WinklerFarms]

I don't dry incubate so I'm not much help there.

The sportsman that I got was 625 plus the shipping (about 75)

I started with the Lgs with turners and fans and they hatched ok once you learned all the tricks. The brinseas would be the way to go from what i hear. A lot of people,like the hovabators as well but I don't know from experience. Good luck whatever you decide on

 

[gabrielle1976]

http://www.brinsea.com/prod-Mini_Advance_fully_digital_7_egg_incubator-230.aspx

Well for small and less then 200 you can go with one of the mini brinseas I have heard nothing but good stuff about them they are small and only fit like 10 regular sized chicken eggs though for the eco and only 7 for the advance .

http://www.brinsea.com/prod-Mini_Eco_manual_10_egg_incubator-229.aspx

would setting only 7-10 eggs be what you consider small hobby hatching ?

 

[yinepu]

Brinseas aren't worth the money in the long run (in my opinion).. I have bought a bunch of their incubators and other products.
I have had defective bators, turners, candlers and brooders that had problems when they arrived from Brinsea as well as bators and turners that die after a few months of use
their customer service is lacking .. even when a product is "under warranty" they still wanted to charge me for replacement parts!

A few things I have experienced as well as seen many other people experience (and there are many threads on the subject):
The fans in the bator can cause issues simply because they are blowing directly on the eggs instead of circulating the air around the eggs... a 'fix" for that is to lay a towel over the hatching eggs to keep the direct air from drying out the membrane (and NO high humidity isn't a cure for it.. when the humidity at "lockdown" is hitting 90% and you still have shrink wrapped or sticky chicks even though the air cells and weight loss were perfect it's a bator issue.. not a humidity issue)
the brinseas can also suddenly change temps or fail to cool down and cook your eggs ..one of mine was spiking to well over 150ºF and still not shutting off (after using it for several hatches).. it now resides at the city dump
they can also do the opposite and suddenly fail to heat at all after a few weeks of "good" use

after buying so many products yeah.. i could expect to get a lemon.. but I got a whole lot more than just one.. which is unacceptable.. especially when expensive eggs are involved


if you only occasionally hatch and want a cheap bator then fine.. but if you plan to hatch a lot .. year round.. you would be better off with something that works much better and is much more reliable

and for the record.. i have been hatching out chicks for well over 50 years.. also sold a bunch of people on the Brinseas when I first got them because I was happy with the first bator I got.. but after a year of their products i wish I had spent all that money somewhere else since it went right down the drain... at least our local dump now has a lot of bright pretty yellow plastic to add some color to the rest of the trash

 

[WinklerFarms]

Brinseas aren't worth the money in the long run (in my opinion).. I have bought a bunch of their incubators and other products.
I have had defective bators, turners, candlers and brooders that had problems when they arrived from Brinsea as well as bators and turners that die after a few months of use
their customer service is lacking .. even when a product is "under warranty" they still wanted to charge me for replacement parts!

A few things I have experienced as well as seen many other people experience (and there are many threads on the subject):
The fans in the bator can cause issues simply because they are blowing directly on the eggs instead of circulating the air around the eggs... a 'fix" for that is to lay a towel over the hatching eggs to keep the direct air from drying out the membrane (and NO high humidity isn't a cure for it.. when the humidity at "lockdown" is hitting 90% and you still have shrink wrapped or sticky chicks even though the air cells and weight loss were perfect it's a bator issue.. not a humidity issue)
the brinseas can also suddenly change temps or fail to cool down and cook your eggs ..one of mine was spiking to well over 150ºF and still not shutting off (after using it for several hatches).. it now resides at the city dump
they can also do the opposite and suddenly fail to heat at all after a few weeks of "good" use

after buying so many products yeah.. i could expect to get a lemon.. but I got a whole lot more than just one.. which is unacceptable.. especially when expensive eggs are involved

 

if you only occasionally hatch and want a cheap bator then fine.. but if you plan to hatch a lot .. year round.. you would be better off with something that works much better and is much more reliable

and for the record.. i have been hatching out chicks for well over 50 years.. also sold a bunch of people on the Brinseas when I first got them because I was happy with the first bator I got.. but after a year of their products i wish I had spent all that money somewhere else since it went right down the drain... at least our local dump now has a lot of bright pretty yellow plastic to add some color to the rest of the trash

What kind do you use now?