Which Incubator to buy?

[brandy00]

Sydney Acres is Telling it like it is. "invest once in the best quality incubator you can afford, then you'll get better results from your expensive eggs for a lifetime. In the long run it pays off, since only 2-3 lost batches of eggs buys your incubator" I build a high Quality incubator and didn't cut corners anywhere. My hatches are 90% and Temps and Humidity are exactly what I want them to be. My temp never fluctuates even a tenth of a degree. To many people on here spend $50.00 on Building an incubator out of a fan/ light bulb and a water heater thermostat and wonder why hatches don't work out. You cant get anything but frustrated and worried for 21 days if you go cheap and use parts that are not really for incubators. Same way with your purchase of a good Quality Incubator. Buy something reputable and proven.(Not) cheap and It will Last and you'll never be frustrated. Here's a pic of Mine. I spent a lot but I'll have great hatches for 20 years.

That's impressive! My husband and I are hoping to start building something similar within the next year. I may hit you up for advice on components if you don't mind!

 

[Strader]

Thank you for the compliments . Worked on it all last winter. Talk about time consuming. Did a little work on it each week.

 

[TattooedMama]

Thank you for the compliments . Worked on it all last winter. Talk about time consuming. Did a little work on it each week.

I'm a ways off from having the skillset to making something this nice!! Though I imagine some day I will try and figure it out as I go along. It seems like it would be fun but I certainly couldn't pull this off anytime soon! It's very nice looking and I think your earlier point is one very well made; many people suggest building your own with a light bulb, fan, and cooler. They go on about how cheap it is but at the same time, their hatch rates are horrible. It was suggested to me that I try to make my own but without the skills you have to make something this great, I just wasn't interested right now. I don't want a work in progress incubator (which is what seems to be the theme with cheap DIY ones) I need something more reliable.

I'm still new to the chickens so I am hoping to be better informed and prepared to eventually make my own cabinet bator years down the road.

 

[Strader]

I found that watching a bunch of builds of incubators on Youtube was so helpful. Also most of my parts came from Incubator warehouse and they ( Incubator Warehouse ) have Youtube videos also that I watched on how the parts go together.
I think a person could build one half the size of mine and use two 6300 egg turners with one heater, two fans, digital thermostat, and one LED light bulb for probably around $300
Would be able to hatch 85 eggs at a time.

 

[winteree]

Sydney Acres is Telling it like it is. "invest once in the best quality incubator you can afford, then you'll get better results from your expensive eggs for a lifetime. In the long run it pays off, since only 2-3 lost batches of eggs buys your incubator"
I build a high Quality incubator and didn't cut corners anywhere. My hatches are 90% and Temps and Humidity are exactly what I want them to be. My temp never fluctuates even a tenth of a degree. To many people on here spend $50.00 on Building an incubator out of a fan/ light bulb and a water heater thermostat and wonder why hatches don't work out. You cant get anything but frustrated and worried for 21 days if you go cheap and use parts that are not really for incubators. Same way with your purchase of a good Quality Incubator. Buy something reputable and proven.(Not) cheap and It will Last and you'll never be frustrated.
Here's a pic of Mine. I spent a lot but I'll have great hatches for 20 years.

where did you buy your themostat? and what type is it? i wanted to add one to my incubator before starting a new batch of eggs.

 

[Strader]

Here's a link to the thermostat I bought. you need to select 110 volt or 220 volt. Has the 18 inch temperature probe.

http://incubatorwarehouse.com/digital-electronic-egg-incubator-thermostat.html

 

[winteree]

Here's a link to the thermostat I bought. you need to select 110 volt or 220 volt. Has the 18 inch temperature probe.

http://incubatorwarehouse.com/digital-electronic-egg-incubator-thermostat.html

thanks

i wish i knew a bit more about how a thermostat works and how to wire it because their are serveral that are cheaper then this but not as ready to go out of the box

 

[TattooedMama]

On a separate subject, when would you guys estimate that a large fowl bird, like an Orpington, is full grown? When looking at Chocolate Orpington hatching eggs to buy I am trying to find those with bigger birds. The chocolate color combination comes from the bantam Orpington and over the years has been bred up into the largest of the large birds. Now there are large fowl chocolates for sale, but they are rare as the process was a time consuming one to get them the right size-many peoples still have "project" birds. The problem is some people's "large fowl" chocolates aren't really large. And being back into chickens after a long hiatus it's hard to ascertain if someones birds will continue to grow much more, or if they are considered near their full adult weight. Most people are selling hatching eggs from birds about 8 months old. Should they continue to grow past this age? And if so, how much more would you expect them to grow after 8 months?

Thanks!!

 

[Strader]

They send you directions/ diagram on wiring this thermostat two ways:
first way is where fan runs all the time and heating element comes on when temp drops to 99.3
second way is to have fan only come on when heating element comes on when temp drops to 99.3
Here are a couple videos , one shows 4 types of thermostats including the one I bought above. First video is a kit with fan and heating element.

 

[Strader]

Here's the video of the heating Element. I used two of these for my cabinet incubator.