Which Incubator to buy?

[TattooedMama]

Hello all!

I am sure there are a great deal of threads like this, and I have been looking at older ones to gain some already discussed past opinions on the subject. BUT I would still like to ask your opinion on what is a better purchase to make. I am looking for an incubator for future use. I am building two small flocks of Orpingtons. The birds I have now won't be laying for a few months still but I was looking into adding to my collection via hatching eggs which is much cheaper than shipped chicks (especially for the colors I am after Chocolate Orps are EXPENSIVE). Also, since I will have my own eggs to incubate at a later date, I figured an incubator would at least be an investment since it will get good use down the line.

I am currently looking at the Brinsea Octagon 20 which seems to have more than wonderful reviews but I would prefer an incubator with a larger capacity. It is also on the higher end pricewise.

I was looking at the GQF Hova-bator 1588 as well and read that it is very nice. This one is similar in price if I buy the automatic egg turner but also has a larger capacity. In reality, I may not really need the full 50 egg capacity but I guess if I'm spending hundreds of dollars it would be nice to have the option instead of deciding I do need it and then needing a second or larger unit (though being limited in my ability to hatch only so many chicks at once would be a plus for my hubby

)

Does anyone have any advice to offer, or experience with either of these? I am curious if I will really suffer that much of a decreased hatch rate with the Hova-bator over the Brinsea. I think I read somewhere that people don't recommend the Hova-bator for expensive chicks. Was really hoping some more experienced people here would have some good advice! Thanks in advance

 

[brandy00]

Keets are hatching
I put a wet washcloth in my Brinsea underneath the tray so it could wick water from both of the wells. So far no problems with the humidity.

 

[Yiannisk]

Consider this also https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/852619/incuview-incubator
I do not have it but i have 2 diy incubators using incukit that it is the heart of this incubator
and i am very pleased

 

[jjaazzy]

I did a lot of looking myself before chirstmas this past year and settled on a Chinese incubator. I spent days looking and each time I started to settle in on anything I would find less then favorable reviews. There was a review on YouTube of a guy who works at an animal sanctuary and said this was hands down the best incubator he had ever owned. 100% hatches every time. That pretty much sealed the deal for me. The price was great too. I got mine through an E-bay vendor but here is a link to see it.
http://incubator.china-direct-buy.c...matic_Mini_Egg_Incubator_For_Family_Type.html

It has all the bells and whistles you would want. holds 48 eggs and has a turner that turns the eggs every 2 hours and a count down timer that lets you know the next time it is going to turn the eggs. The turner of course is removable. It has alarms for temperature and humidity if they go out of range and they are adjustable but mine arrived spot on. There is a fan and channels below a plastic grid that holds different amounts of water. There are filler ports from the sides of the tub. It is all plastic so it is easy to clean. The top is semi clear so you can peek in. It would have been nice if it was a little easier to see in but it does offer you a glimpse of what's going on. I did have to get the bubbly shelf liner the one that has tiny holes in it cause the plastic grid on its own is too slippery when they start hatching and there is all that liquid and gue. I got 1 case of spradle leg on my first hatch but the perforated shelf liner solved future problems.
First hatch I had 3 fertile eggs and all went great, hatched on day 21
2nd hatch only one fertile egg and hatched beautiful on day 21
3rd hatch this time I had 9 fertile eggs and all but one has hatched. I got one Texas hold out... It's still hanging out in the egg........ need to do some research to find out what to do for this little guy.
two hatched on day 20 most day 21 and I got one struggling to get out on day 22.
I believe this has more to do with my hens maybe starting to sit on my eggs a bit before I gathered them and incubated them. Not sure. We were busy that week getting ready for a vacation. Anyway I am an complete newbie in this world and thought I would let you know about this great little incubator.

 

[blucoondawg]

The bottom gets nasty at hatch time but it scrubs out well with a scrub brush. From now on I am going to line the bottom with foil or saran wrap to avoid having to clean, just have to remember to pop the little holes in the liner to match the 4 small holes in the bottom of the incubator.

I think any of the fan styrobators likely will work fine and they are affordable, I paid 92 dollars on sale reg price is just over 100, this came with the turner at that price. I think most of the poor hatches and bad experiences come from still air models, if these incubators were as bad as some make out I doubt these companies would still be in business.

When reading reviews on online forums I always factor in the unknown and general human nature, just because a person has had repeatedly had poor hatches doesn't necessarily mean it is the fault of the incubator, it could be due to any number of things including human error and not knowing what the heck they're doing, or bad eggs. I think using the recommended high humidities during incubation kills a lot of chicks, I also think many of the temperature swing issues you hear about come from having the incubator in a room where the temp swings greatly or where sun from a window can beat on it for awhile. Also those with poor results cry foul louder than folks with decent or good results sing praises, that is why I always tell of my good experiences with mine, just to get the other prospective out there. I also figure a certain small percentage of bad reviews come from folks who I would consider 'incubator snobs' which is what I call anyone who gives a review based on 'this model costs more and I have it so its got to be better'
I started a thread reviewing my incubator and others posted to it as well with good results. Here is that thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/852897/name-change-my-first-experience-with-farm-innovators-bator

 

[DeGarmom]

I had an old round hovabator, a newer (well newer than the round!) rectangular hovabator, both of which I used 20 years ago and then again recently. They aren't bad if you are paying attention. Hatch rate isn't spectacular, but they work. (Short of carrying them around in your shirt, this is incubating "the hard way".)

Then I bought the incukit, because I needed more space. I put it together, and had a hard time regulating the temp and humidity. I am a DIY'er normally, but when the eggs are expensive, like your chocolate Orps, it's frustrating to not be able to get it just right. It wasn't consistent enough for me.

Then I bought Farm Innovators rectangular Styrofoam forced air incubator and their turner. It has a thermometer on the top, but it isn't necessarily accurate. The random 106 degree spike that was listed above happened to me too. I had purchased (2) of them and one seems to be better regulated than the other, but still......

So I bought the Brinsea Octagon 20 and the cradle(turner). I can't tell you how much easier it is to keep track of! The cooling cycle is something that the others don't do, the power failure and temperature alarms are nice to have, and when you have to open it for whatever reason, the inside temp is right back up to where it should be faster than any other that I have used.

I have left a thermometer inside in all 4 corners and in the center at different times, and the incubator is "dead on" what the thermometer on top says it is. The humidity is generally pretty easy to regulate with a vent on the face of the incubator. It's also much easier to clean than the Styrofoam ones. Hard molded plastic. The design is a better footprint, too. I currently have 2 on my kitchen counter and still have room to work.

I hunted high and low (ebay, amazon, Jeffers Livestock....) I ended up purchasing directly from Brinsea as I had signed up for their email specials, and it went on sale in at the end of the month. By searching "Brinsea coupon" I also was able to received free shipping.

I like my Octagon 20 so much that I bought another one. (needless to say, I couldn't afford to go to the movies for a while, never mind popcorn! but I am not sorry one bit!)

 

[DeGarmom]

I had looked at the RComs, and they are expensive. I decided that I would have to sell a ton of chicks to justify using it, and when I looked at how short hatching season is here in Minnesota, the Brinsea made more sense. It would take a couple of years of constant use to pay for itself (for what I need it for)


The "heat plates": Brinsea makes 2 models (I am sure there are more on the market though) called "EcoGlow". They are supposed to be safer and more efficient, but they don't give them away, either. (next year, maybe...... sigh!)

 

[dretd]

Hi TattooedMama

If you are on a budget, I would encourage you to go for the Brinsea 20 Eco, even if it is a little more expensive than a styro-bator. If you get it as just the manual turn it will be around $175ish.

I built my own Coleman incubator and learned a lot. My hatch success was poor on shipped eggs so I moved on , but in retrospect I think that some of my failures with this unit was due to me being a novice and I think that if I went back it would perform better than the styro I have tried. The most important part was I did not have the incubator set up in a room with a stable temp and humidity.

I have tried a borrowed Hovabator and it did not perform in a satisfactory fashion with temp spikes and was really hard to clean to my satisfaction. The rough contour of any styrofoam will allow bacteria to settle and be protected so that in future hatches the 'bator will be pre-seeded with bacteria. Its a concern of mine.

On a budget, I ordered a Farm Innovators 4200 from Amazon. When I got it, the warranty was only for 30 days (the Amazon pdf showed 60 days). Think about it, it takes 21 days to hatch a batch so the company only thinks that the incubator will be reliable enough for them to replace for 1 hatch cycle. II called the number and left messages but never got a reply from the non-existent customer service rep. No way is this good enough for me, so I sent it back.

I settled on the Brinsea in desperation, even though it was above my budget and I am glad I did. My hubby gave me the turning cradle for Christmas, so its even easier. It is really and truly bare-bones but it holds a rock-solid temp throughout the entire incubator. I daisy-chained multiple temp sensors (that continuously sent temps to my computer for reference) in the little guy to prove it to myself. The original reference bulb thermometer you use verify temp was mis-marked. I contacted customer service and immediately got a response from a real person and they shipped out two replacements. Hand turning the whole unit was so easy--not anything like having to hand-turn the eggs individually. Very easy to take apart and thoroughly clean after the hatch, too.

The Brinsea holds 24 XL chicken eggs. I am currently on day 11 of a new hatch and candled last night. I wanted to see if I could squeeze in a couple of extras, so I had perched them between and atop the lower rows on one end and used small strips of egg-crate foam wedged between the lower rows and extending up to keep the eggs from falling over when the incubator turned. Both of those eggs are developing nicely so I will be inclined to add extras the next time around with the theory that you will always have a few duds that will make space for the extras.

The only downside with the Brinsea is that the headroom is pretty low. I ended up taking out the first group that hatched when I saw that there were no pipped eggs, then used the opportunity to top off the wells with water to continue the hatch.

If you consider the cost of shipped eggs, which including shipping have run me $45-$75/dozen then getting even one more chick to hatch per set will end up paying for a slightly more expensive incubator after a few hatches.

I have heard wonderful things about the Rcom and the Brinsea Advance models, but they are out of my league.

 

[what did I do]

Exactly!! Now, after reading this thread I'm torn between the Brinsea and the rcom!

I just wanted to say that I got the R-com because the turner was integrated, it had good humidity controls and where you add the water for the humidity was all integrated into one unit. One unit with everything.

If I would have gotten the Brinsea with humidity pump and turning cradle it would have cost more. It wouldn't have worked as well away from home. I believe with the Brinsea you have a humidity pad that you have to change with each hatch, an added expense.

I'm not trying to change your mind. I think the Brinsea is a very good incubator. You can't go wrong with it. The R-com just fits our purpose better.

BTW, I have a cheep hovabator that I hatch in as well. It is tough to keep clean but it does work. It works well at home where I can keep an eye on it but not so well where you can't watch it all the time. I have a staggered hatch going on in it now. Cleaning it is a booger.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
I was also VERY confused about humidity levels. Temp recommendations are quite consistent, but humidity recommendations are all over the place. Plus, everyone warns that if the humidity is wrong your chicks die. But I finally figured it out (I think -- those of you with lots of experience, please let me know if this is right or not). The reason humidity is so important is that humidity determines how much water evaporates from the egg white during incubation. When water evaporates out of the egg, the air sac in the egg enlarges. If the air sac is too small at hatch time, the chick can't breath after its internal pip, so it suffocates or drowns. If the air sac is too large, then the inner membrane has shrunk down too much and the chick can't pip properly, which some people call shrink wrapped. So the humidity has to be low enough to allow the excess water to evaporate out of the egg, but not so low that too much evaporates. But different egg shells and membranes have different porosities, so they evaporate differently. So for some eggs, the right humidity will be 20%, others 30%, others even higher. To determine how to adjust your humidity, you can either weigh your eggs or candle your eggs regularly. Weighing determines how much water they've lost, and candling determines how big the air sac is. There are references in the Hatching 101 article on BYC (and lots of other places) that tell you how much weight the eggs should lose per week or what the air sac should look like every week. If your eggs aren't on schedule, then you need to increase or decrease your humidity accordingly, I've been told that most people start out with a humidity between 20-30% the first week, then "let the eggs tell you what to do." At lock down, I've been told to use 65% humidity to make it easier for the chicks to reposition themselves in the egg -- otherwise it gets too sticky to move around.

A "dry hatch" isn't really dry. That's just what people call it when you don't have to add water to the incubator to get the humidity where you want it. People who live in very humid areas of the world will often have enough moisture in the air without needing to add extra. People who live in very dry areas of the world can't do this successfully. Often it's a seasonal option, all depending on your climate, and where you keep the incubator. People talk about winter and summer incubating being totally different.

Do I have it right, or are some of the details wrong?