What incubator should I get?

[bock]

Ok, so for a long time I have been planning on buying day old chicks from a hatchery, but just recently I decided to try and hatch eggs from a breeder. I have hatched duck eggs before in my little giant incubator (with a fan), but the temperature would spike, and humidity was hard to keep steady. I probably had about a 40% hatch rate. Last year, I tried to hatch 20 mix breed chicken eggs that someone gave to me, but while I was gone for a few hours, the temperature spiked to 108F, killing them all.

My B-day is coming up, and I think a new incubator would be a good gift to ask for. Does anyone know of a good bator that isn't too expensive? I would LOVE one that stay at 100F w/out having to guess and turn that little knob thing all the time. Any suggestions are welcome!

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

I have a genesis hovabator and I LOVE IT!

It holds the temp at a rock solid 100, you don't even need to set it when you get it from the factory. Just add water and the turner, and wait!

I'd definitely recomend it.

 

[bock]

I just looked at some old posts about this incubator. It looks like people had some great hatches with it! I will definitely consider this one. Where is a good place to buy it from (lower cost)?

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Quote:
www.gqfmfg.com is the manufacturer, they have it on their site too...

 

[speedy2020]

Here is Brinsea Octagon 20 Eco thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=416433.

 

[Mahonri]

Brinsea Octogon 20 Advance Ex with humidity control.

Plug and Play.

I've put as many as 30 eggs in it (stacking)

 

[cherylcohen]

I have a king suro and 2 hovabator genesis, and as wonderful as the king suro is about keeping temps and humidity perfect I'm not a fan of hatching in there, it's very small and short so I can't see much and I like to hatch in cartons so it's a bit tricky in that small space. So I use the king suro for day 1-18 because I set-it-and-forget-it, then move everyone to a hovabator. I also use the hovabator day 1-21 they are fabulous with a huge window.

I'm not a fan of styrofoam but if you get a new one the water trays for humidity are molded in a piece of plastic, much much more reliable than old models...my 2 1/2 cents

 

[Mahonri]

That's the only drawback of the Brinsea. with cartons they don't have much room to move once they hatch.

 

[speedy2020]

Quote:
How do you deal with so much crow in there if they hatching very closely? I am consider put some eggs in 1-2 day ahead then later move those eggs to the top layer to hatch first.

 

[Mahonri]

Since I had shipped eggs my last two hatches. When I candle there are always some that come out, quitters or scrambled.
By hatch time I usually have about 20 in the brinsea and it works.