Your best "duck hatcher" incubator?

[DB_Tex]

I have a farm pro series that is utter trash... it won't keep humidity worth a darn, and it ran for 14 days before the thermometer went out AND it spiked all over the place while the room temp fluctuated during the day. (I guess I shoulda figured out *why* it was only 10$ more than just a turner and candler. )

I'd love to find something that holds the humidity well enough for hatching ducks.

What's your "set it and forget it" duck-maker?

I'm really attracted to the brinsea echo 20, but I'm not sure it would work out for me. Humidity is vitally important here (Phoenix, AZ), we have no dormant humidity at all so I can imagine it would be harder to maintain in a 'bator-- plus I specialize in waterfowl and really need the just humidity right, chickens are kind of an afterthought and I'm not at the point of breeding my own turkeys yet.

Maybe I should look at a moderately good quality hovabator. My cap is like 200$.
(I've only seen a vintage cabinet incubator come up ONCE 2 hours away from me and it was gone in a day anyway.)
On the bright side, I do already have a turner!

Anything I can hatch about 20 duckies in will work.

I've heard the little giants are prone to temp spikes?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

If you can find one and afford it, a redwood cabinet is the way to go. If not the next best choice is a Brinsea incubator. They make various models from tabletop to cabinet.

 

[njduck]

Save up and get a sportsmen 1502. Well worth the money. It is truly a set it and forget it

 

[Oregon Blues]

None of the Styrofoam incubators are going to behave brilliantly.

A redwood incubator is, hands down, the finest for hatching ducks, but they are very hard to come by. The cabinet incubators work very well, but they are expensive and don't go down much in price when they sell used,

I've got a small home made incubator that behaves very well, but it wasn't all that cheap by the time I purchased good quality components. It cost less than $200, though.

I have a custom made redwood incubator on order and I am waiting and waiting.... It isn't going to cost me any more than a good cabinet incubator, except the wait is a lot longer.

If you are serious about hatching duck eggs and plan to hatch more than a dozen of so, I suggets that you save up and buy that cabinet incubator.

 

[destinduck]

If you are in it for the long haul get one of the cabinets.That being said I have had so much success with hovabators its insane.( Sorry to disaagree OregonBlues.) On one I havent changed the thermostat wafer in 3 years! All 3 have always kept great steady temps. (I am told you should replace the wafers every year but I do it every 2. They are cheap and perform very well.I mainly hatch wild and exotic ducks btw which are much harder than domestics to hatch. I use autoturners but hand turn also. Yes LG's suck!

 

[DB_Tex]

Our current farm set up is kind of a "dress rehearsal" deal, figuring out what works for us and what doesn't before we commit to the sustainable homestead model. We're leasing property in a state we hate while biding our time to move where we really want to in the best possible shape. I can't really justify a 600$+ incubator while saving for a farm down payment.... A $200 limit though I could see recovering through bird sales.
I'm probably going to have to sell off my entire flock when that day comes... import papers are cost prohibitive and I wouldn't take more than a couple of my best birds. $25 a pop doesn't sound like a lot but I have almost 40 birds considering all my species lol!

All I want is to hatch some welshies fairly reliably to sell to the urban farmers around here.

Destinduck, which model hovabator do you use?

 

[destinduck]

Hovabator will fill that bill nicely then.