Whats a good Incubator?

[xcalibor67]

I, like at least 1 other member here @ BC's do not have unlimited funds, and would like to try hatching a batch of eggs. From all the reading, temp & humidity are very important. Not to mention turning the eggs. I have looked at Amazon and found that the "HovaBator Genesis 1588 is supposed to be the cats meow or roosters crow if you will, of incubators. The only problem i have is.....My wallet! $200 for an incubator is pricey to me, but on the other hand so is waiting a month and losing 30+ eggs. I have thought of making my own, but there again i go back to the "What Ifs". Since hopefully non of you work for Amazon, i might find a non biased opinion on a good incubator. One that you actually use and know it works as it should. Any recommendations? Thanks.

 

[LLranch]

You can get a nice incubator quite a bit cheaper if you don't need an automatic Turner I use homemade incubators and hand turn before work after work and right before I go to bed. You should go to incubator warehouse.com and look at the offerings there a lot of people have good luck with the 1602n. Incubator Warehouse also offers incukits it's everything you need to build your own incubator out of any sort of box insulated is better like a cooler

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I, like at least 1 other member here @ BC's do not have unlimited funds, and would like to try hatching a batch of eggs. From all the reading, temp & humidity are very important. Not to mention turning the eggs. I have looked at Amazon and found that the "HovaBator Genesis 1588 is supposed to be the cats meow or roosters crow if you will, of incubators. The only problem i have is.....My wallet! $200 for an incubator is pricey to me, but on the other hand so is waiting a month and losing 30+ eggs. I have thought of making my own, but there again i go back to the "What Ifs". Since hopefully non of you work for Amazon, i might find a non biased opinion on a good incubator. One that you actually use and know it works as it should. Any recommendations? Thanks.

I bought the Hovabator 1583 for $122. Without the turner and love it! It's the non digital version of the 1588. Once you get it to the proper temps it holds it steady. Hand turnerning saves a little money and you can always add the turner later on.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

You can get a nice incubator quite a bit cheaper if you don't need an automatic Turner I use homemade incubators and hand turn before work after work and right before I go to bed. You should go to incubator warehouse.com and look at the offerings there a lot of people have good luck with the 1602n. Incubator Warehouse also offers incukits it's everything you need to build your own incubator out of any sort of box insulated is better like a cooler

You can get the 1602N with the fan kit and turner for $125 @ incubator warehouse.

 

[xcalibor67]

Thanks. I have thought of making my own, as i have some extra plywood and 2" styrofoam sheets left over from coop build. Do you guys feel that the forced air style is better than the stale air style? I have questions like, "How much fresh air ventilation" is needed?.. Does the fan need to be placed to where it constantly draws in fresh air? I may be over thinking this, but i do know that the more fresh air is introduced into a room(Box) the more the temps fluctuate, and i thought the whole idea is to maintain the set temp as best as possible. Just so happens i have an extra 110vlt PC fan i no longer use.The humidity part isn't concerning me as bad as the air, as adding water/sponges is a simple fix even after the incubator is complete. Would a few fresh air intakes with adjuster baffles like on a grill be a good idea?.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thanks.  I have thought of making my own, as i have some extra plywood and 2" styrofoam sheets left over from coop build. Do you guys feel that the forced air style is better than the stale air style?  I have questions like, "How much fresh air ventilation" is needed?.. Does the fan need to be placed to where it constantly draws in fresh air? I may be over thinking this, but i do know that the more fresh air is introduced into a room(Box) the more the temps fluctuate, and i thought the whole idea is to maintain the set temp as best as possible. Just so happens i have an extra 110vlt PC fan i no longer use.The humidity part isn't concerning me as bad as the air, as adding water/sponges is a simple fix even after the incubator is complete. Would a few fresh air intakes with adjuster baffles like on a grill be a good idea?.

Half of what you said is Greek to me...lol and why I bought mine. Ok, it was the last line that was Greek. I can tell you, the styro bators I have had only had 2 dime sized vent holes on top with smaller pencil lead sized holes near the bottom. My lg had like 4 of the smaller around top as well. Barely noticeable. I prefer forced air. Temps aren't layered and more consistent throughout. Though you can still have cool spots.

 

[LLranch]

Thanks.  I have thought of making my own, as i have some extra plywood and 2" styrofoam sheets left over from coop build. Do you guys feel that the forced air style is better than the stale air style?  I have questions like, "How much fresh air ventilation" is needed?.. Does the fan need to be placed to where it constantly draws in fresh air? I may be over thinking this, but i do know that the more fresh air is introduced into a room(Box) the more the temps fluctuate, and i thought the whole idea is to maintain the set temp as best as possible. Just so happens i have an extra 110vlt PC fan i no longer use.The humidity part isn't concerning me as bad as the air, as adding water/sponges is a simple fix even after the incubator is complete. Would a few fresh air intakes with adjuster baffles like on a grill be a good idea?.

I will tell you what has been working great for me for many years others may have different ideas and opinions. The first one I made out of a broken microwave about 15 years ago it has served me well I have gotten a hundred percent patch rate out of it more than once but it it has been a learning experience modifying and improving it as I went along. The second one I built the first of this year out of an ice chest slash cooler. It holds temperature even better than the microwave and has been Rock Solid since day one. Now to answer your questions. Both incubators have two half inch vent holes one whole each in opposite corners one whole having been wallered out egg-shaped only to allow my temperature probe to fit in through the hole. Both incubators have the fan mounted in the top in the middle blowing down not near a vent hole not sucking or blowing fresh air. I believe forced air with a fan is better the idea is not to move air through the vent holes necessarily but to circulate air within the incubator to keep everything the same temperature and avoid having cool spots in the corners or near the vent holes. I find it works best to keep your heat Source light bulbs in my case near the fan doesn't matter if it's sucking the warm air or blowing warm air as long as the heat source is near the fan. I also like to keep my thermostat near the fan so that the air is either being drawn or blowing across the thermostat. Those two things will help a lot in keeping your temperature stable. Now about humidity I will tell you a trick I use that I have not read anywhere or told anybody about until now. I use a water pan that has more surface area than is needed to create adequate humidity. Then I cut up an old mouse pad that covers the water pan and slide it to expose more or less surface area in the water pan to raise or lower humidity another trick I use to maintain temperature after opening incubator to turn eggs is I put water bottles in there has a heat sink to retain heat others use rocks bricks would work well too I think

 

[LLranch]

In this picture you can see the water bottles I have for heat sinks and the containers that hold water for humidity the mouse pad is removed here to get maximum humidity for lockdown

 

[LLranch]

Here you can see the platform the eggs set on is 1x1 welded wire I use that the first 18 days it keeps the eggs from rolling around and I can reach my finger through to adjust the mouse pad for humidity and use a funnel to add water. For the last three days of incubation I remove the 1 inch welded wire egg rack and put in 1/8 inch screen tray for hatching

 

[xcalibor67]

Thanks M8. I like the pics too. I notice you have the "Wafer" style thermostat. I assume the probe shown on the last pic is the sensor coming from the wafer stat? Also, do you like the wafer style better than the "All in one" digital stats that show humidity, temp etc? I also assume you manually turn your eggs. I was going to try and buy one of the factory deals, but from my reading, they are hit and miss, and since i happen to have several 2" thick white styro sheets and extra plywood, hey, i might can build cheaper, and possibly better, more durable than a store bought one. Again, Thank You for the great tips. PS: what is the inside dimensions of your box?