Which Incubator to get?

[NewHopePoultry]

My husband finally gave in and said he would buy me a Incubator!! Im not sure which one to get though.
I want to be able to hatch more then 3 eggs at a time, but I need a cheap one.

 

[wannabchick]

I love my brisnea mini advance..it's under 175.00, I think 150.00 actually

Holds 7 eggs with auto turner

BUt sometimes I just overload 10 eggs and hand turn myself 3 - 5 times a day..

Don't quote me on that..lol, now I can't remember how much they are

But all of the brisnea line..is really good

Good luck and have a blast

 

[NewHopePoultry]

Thanks

He said he wants something cheaper then that though.

 

[Towns End]

Although many will curse little giant incubators, I have two of them and have great hatch rates (90+%). Holds 45 eggs. Cost $49.00 at tractor supply. Many of eggs have hatched from this still air unit. It does require some attention to detail during the incubation period, but it works fine. If you want to upgrade and not have to spend as much time babysitting the incubator, you can add an auto- turner for $45.00 and a computer fan from radio shack for $10.00. So, for about $105.00 you can have a dependable unit (in my opinion). Cheapest route to go unless you want to build your own. Like I said, many will disagree. However, this has worked for me.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

I actually looked at a little giant incubator the other day.
Are they easy to use?

 

[Towns End]

Very simple set-up. However, If your using the still air (no fan), make sure the room temps remian very stable. If you use a fan, the room themp can fluctuate without messing up the incubator. My house varies from 55 degrees at night to 70 degrees during the day, and i have no problem maintaining temps. Also, the thermostat on little giants are very sensitive. Make very small adjustments and wait 10-20 minutes for it to stabilize before making more adjustments. Once you get it to temp (99.5 w/fan...102 w/o fan) for 6 hours, place eggs in bator and do not touch the thermostat control for 6 hours. The cold eggs will cause the temp to drop, but it will return to set-up temp as eggs heat up. Keep humidity at 25-35% for day 1-17 and increase to 60-70% for 18-21 and the fertile eggs will hatch. Another very handy addition to make the incubator easier to use is to take some aquarium tubing and run it through the vent hole to the water tray. Place a 10-20cc syringe on the end of the hose and use this to add water without opening the bator. Hope this helps

 

[NewHopePoultry]

Thanks!

 

[HHandbasket]

We have the Little Giant forced-air bator. Runs about $85-$95 at most feed stores. It does not have automatic egg turners, but I work from home so stopping to take 30 seconds and turn the eggs 5 or 6 times a day is never an issue. Once we got the temp and humidity stabilized and found a spot in the house that maintains a good ambient temp, it has been a reliable bator thus far. Our current hatch is the first one we've done in the LG, and so far we've had almost no loss of eggs in that bator. I think we've culled 4 out of 15 originally put in there, which isn't bad, and we go into lockdown next Thursday night at midnight (12:00 a.m. Friday).

Then there's the homemade one we built for under $30 including the digital thermometer/hygrometer.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

Im a stay at home, so I have plenty of time

 

[aprophet]

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/-/thermal-hova-bator-incubator1602n/

this is the one I have been using for the last year, I added a fan to the one I have it has hatched many a quail for me in the last year stay at home is good with the styro bators towns end gives some very good advice