Incubators

[artic 595]

It's been a long while sinced I used one. The last one I owned was a massive metal square thingy for parrots, it had a hole in the top to slide the thermometer in, and I filled the bottom tray with water. I also turned the eggs 3 times a day myself. It did the job though and hatched many chicks.

 

Now I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, and had a shock to see how many there are on the market. Semi auto's, Full auto's, fan cooled, electric timers...........

 

I've had a little look at some reviews, but still none the wiser!

 

What do you reccomend or use? It will be for poultry and pheasant eggs. Your views will be much appreciated.

 

[bullxryno 21]

my grans just sold a beuty at not much money mate!

[jasper65 6]

Tried a few in the past Actic from Octagans, Roll X and Curfew. all did the job they was designed for but most would rise and fall as the external remperature changed even though the room Temperature was pretty stable. one of the above would go up over a Degree during the day when it was at its warmest and needed tweeking down again in the evenings when the air cools! most of this came from pretty poor insulation in the caseing with the lids just being single skinned. I still have the old Curfew with the clear lid but only now use it for a Hatcher.

 

My main Incubator now is a Grumbach. I have used this machime now for a good few years and can't fault it! its nice and stable and never really moves much over +/- .1 at anytime. the other good thing is the Turner which is 24Hr timer job, you can adjust this to the amount of times you want the eggs to turn if any.

 

this is the model I use! it looks a mess but then it always does when I'm running eggs on .

 

Jasp

[Moll. 1,770]

Can't go wrong with Brinsea Artic. Reasonably priced and their after sales service is superb. Got the old Octagon 20's, a mini advance and recently bought an Octagon Advance with humidity pump....so easy and has improved my hatch rates no end.

 

http://www.brinsea.com/products/octagon20A.html

[Paid 935]

i'll put a second vote in for brinsea, I now use octagons 20s for all incubation, cracking bit of kit for the price.

[artic 595]

Jasper, that's some piece of kit! Looks very professional and pricey? The temp problem is my concern with incubators.

 

Moll/Paid, yes I was looking at those ones. Do they hold the temp ok? Do they do a smaller version? What price should I pay for one?

 

Thanks for your replies.

 

[Moll. 1,770]

I've the mini advance.... http://www.brinsea.com/products/mini.html

To be honest i only use it as a temp brooder, i cannot keep the humidity exact enough for the breed i hatch, Serama (b*****ds to hatch) i have heard good reports from other who have used it though. Use it for 12 bantam eggs or 7 normal sized.

 

You cannot get the Octagon in any smaller than a 20.

 

Forgot to say temp is easily controlled

Edited March 13, 2011 by Moll.

[nainworb 0]

i use the rcom suro 24 its a good bit of kit the humidity can be turned up and down. temp that can be set but never moves

when set to what u want iv just hatched 11 out of 12 gold laced orpingtons it can hold 24 hens eggs the price is about £150 well worth it

[Moll. 1,770]

With any bator i would recommend you getting an additional hygrometer/thermometer for inside the bator. What the incubator says it is and what it actually is can be totally different.

The room you keep it in, type of heating, electrical appliances, time of year/weather etc etc can all effect it.

 

I've heard good reports about Rcoms.

[artic 595]

I've the mini advance.... http://www.brinsea.c...ducts/mini.html

To be honest i only use it as a temp brooder, i cannot keep the humidity exact enough for the breed i hatch, Serama (b*****ds to hatch) i have heard good reports from other who have used it though. Use it for 12 bantam eggs or 7 normal sized.

 

You cannot get the Octagon in any smaller than a 20.

 

Forgot to say temp is easily controlled

 

Yes Moll, I looked at that one. I think I'll go with it.

 

Thank you for all your replies.

 

Cheers.

 

[baw 4,360]

I've the mini advance.... http://www.brinsea.c...ducts/mini.html

To be honest i only use it as a temp brooder, i cannot keep the humidity exact enough for the breed i hatch, Serama (b*****ds to hatch) i have heard good reports from other who have used it though. Use it for 12 bantam eggs or 7 normal sized.

 

You cannot get the Octagon in any smaller than a 20.

 

Forgot to say temp is easily controlled

 

Yes Moll, I looked at that one. I think I'll go with it.

 

Thank you for all your replies.

 

Cheers.

 

 

Just sit on them yourself artic, your like a mother hen anyhow

[jasper65 6]

Jasper, that's some piece of kit! Looks very professional and pricey? The temp problem is my concern with incubators.

 

Yes mate its a good sound Inc that treats eggs to a simular enironment as when under a parent bird. the heat is gradual with these coming down and heating slowly from the top much like a birds brood patch. the trouble with alot of small incubators with fans directly over the eggs is they tend to dry eggs out due to too mucj foced air from the fan! they also have a habit of heating eggs the same temperature all round due to this forced air circulation. I'm not saying this is bad thing as with most Poultry and game eggs they'll hatch out anywhere but I certainly wouldn't get away with it with Hawk and Falcon eggs without tracking them! the exception is Harrishawk eggs which I just hole in the airsac end to dry out and let them run for 33 days.

 

If I'm taking eggs fresh with no Natural incubation I'll weigh them down aiming for a 13% weigh loss to pip. I weigh them every three days and chart their weight on a graph, if they're not loseing enough weight I hole the airsac end, if they are running on and loseing too much I tape it over again or bluetac! I control all the weight from the airsac end. the problem without weighing eggs is you don't know how each egg is running! weighing them tells you when to add the Hunidity and when not, although I have to say I have never had to add water to my Incubator! the UK climate is generaly damp enough for this Inc. some eggs have slight thinner shells than other and consequently dry out more! weighing them will increase your hatchability rate as you can map each egg individualy. the general rule of thumb is 15% weight loss from fresh but personaly I prefer 13% or as close as possible.

 

Don't get me wrong! you won't need nothing special to Hatch out a large majority of Poultry or game, you'll be pretty succesfull with any of the systems already mentioned .

 

By the way this is a handy site for Calibrated thermometers and bits and bobs

 

Jasper Interhatch

[artic 595]

Jasper, I see your point and makes sense. I can remember always having good hatch ratings with my old parrot inc. But like you have mentioned, all I read about is how a lot of these inc do not keep a regular steady temp.

 

I'm going to use my one for small amounts of poultry and pheasant eggs. So what I'm after is something small and Reliable. I know how it feels (sure you do too) when an inc fails!

 

That's a good link. Thanks for that.

 

[Butler 396]

My advice for what it's worth would be if you want a smallish (less than 50 eggs) incubator get a still air one much kinder to the eggs. The brinsea polyhatch is about as good as you will find for it's price and size. As jasper has already said you can pretty much forget about adding water to a bator in the UK it isn't needed IMO.

[jasper65 6]

My advice for what it's worth would be if you want a smallish (less than 50 eggs) incubator get a still air one much kinder to the eggs. The brinsea polyhatch is about as good as you will find for it's price and size. As jasper has already said you can pretty much forget about adding water to a bator in the UK it isn't needed IMO.

 

100% with you on that Butler. the still air Incs are probably the closest thing to Natural in the way they heat gently from the top with the egg cooling at the bottom! pretty much identicle to the conditions of a nest with the heat coming from the brood patch and cooling at the bottom of the nest.

 

there's alot of mickey mouse Incubators out there full of the electronic gadgetry which isn't needed, loads more electronics to go wrong all squeezed into a small incubator unit.

 

Unfortunatly there's not many good Cabinet Incubators out there now! Curfew used to do some cracking one's but have now finished but a good seondhand one is still worth its weight in gold. I think this is also why the Grumbach incubator works so well! its a full on cabinet system with a front door to open so you don't loose heat like the one you have to lift the lid off, its also big enough to allow the air gently circulate through out the cabinet ....