Backyard Poultry Forum

Please Vote on your favourite incubator that you own or have used.

If you select other, please post a reply to specify what sort.

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http://www.zilcorp.net <-- My Web Page
http://comic.zilcorp.net/ <-- La Grenouille

i have found the IM incubator to be best the cavatutto i bought is crap it doesnt keep temprature for more than an hr

I hope there are lots of answers to this . im very interested .
we plan to purchase a new incubator soon .. so far the bell south 100 suits our needs and budget .
i think the raincroft one needs an update as it only offers manual turn and seems to be highly priced

I chose a Raincroft because I wanted something simple that I could customise and i liked that the money went back into a community. It holds temp very well, is fan forced and is cheap to run. Drawbacks are that i had to seal the timber edges to prevent swelling - no big deal - cost about $7 to do. Also found the supplied water dishes provided too much humidity so had to experiment a little. I work at home so am able to monitor the bator to turn eggs etc. I have taught myself alot about incubation with this machine and this month was able to hatch multiple clutches a week apart - usually only done in more expensive bators. Next I have plans to fit a semi-auto turning mechanism for about 40 eggs which will make things easier and only cost about $10 - $20 and a few hours time. I also really like that i can use it as a hospital incubator for young or sick birds and small animals. Timber is also a good insulator - i lost no week old eggs during a 2 and a half hour blackout on a cold stormy day. If you like to experiment and tinker then this has lots of potential but it also worked well for me in its original state. Alot of people like to set up and forget, I like to get more involved in the incubation process.

If I was choosing an incubator, I would pick one that is also marketed at expensive exotic eggs, as these require a much higher degree of accuracy. eg Macaws, parrots, mandarin ducks etc. Normal old chook eggs can be successfully hatched in poor incubators, but you will can get problems if the birds are inbred, non-perfect diet, or from the incubator infuencing deformities (crooked toes etc).

Generally you get what you pay for, especially as most of the cost is in electrical components. Bellsouth incubators are a pain to clean, and I have had limited success from them (I own 2 of them). Since getting a second hand Brinsea, I feel my Bellsouth incubators will only be used if I am in desperate need to hatch extra eggs, or to give to friends to use. The Brinsea leaves the Bellsouth in the dust (but are expensive). I wouldnt swap it for any number of bellsouths.

Andy.V

We have here in Europe not the machines on your poll list.
We have over here very good incubators.

Look this site its in Dutch but very nice pictures and incubators.
Its a nice site for you Andy to make it in English.

http://www.broedpagina.nl/ by links broedmachines (incubators)
http://www.broedpagina.nl/ by broeden click animatie (animation)
this is a very beautiful site for kids and adults.

Lot of plesure on this site.

Chris V.
http://www.marans.be

I find the Im incubators very reliable and hold the heat very well comparing to some other brands of incubators.It works well when hatching eggs.It handles the quick changes in temperture very well ,without overheating and cooking the eggs.It also has a clear and simply way of using it without getting confused.Therefore for someone just starting out in incubators and dont have a clear idea of what to do with incubators, i would recomend Im incubators with great confidence!

My MINILAB (N.Z.) is about 20 years old, handles 12 hen eggs, 10 duck eggs, 15 bantam eggs or 18 quail eggs and never misses a beat. Hatchings of 80 to 100% are normal. Ditgital temp. control would be great but we are just fine the way it is. Kids love the ease of viewing and their excitment is palpable. I have long since lost track of the numbers hatched but it would some hundreds. Cheers Lal

Lal,
I am glad you have had luck with your minilab. My parents had one years ago, but I found the temp. would spike on a hot day. I thought it might have been the old wafer thermostat. Do you keep it in a controlled temp room? I found on hot days above 35'C it would cook my poor eggs, and they hatched too early without absorbing all the yolk. Maybe you have better technique Its great when you can see them hatch.

Andy.V

Hi, I have a GQF Hovobator which I purchased on eBay from America about a year ago. I have found it to be very reliable with keeping the temperature steady. I have had really good success hatching my own eggs (usually 80 to 100% of fertile eggs hatch) but eggs I have had posted to me have not been very successful. It holds 42 eggs with the turner in. It has a clear top and its great to see the eggs hatch. My kids love it!! As I only usually ever want to hatch about a dozen eggs this has been the perfect choice for me and I have been very happy with it. As this is a very popular incubator in America I have been able to get heaps of tips from the American poultry boards which has helped my hatches a lot.

Cheers Alison

the best I have used is a Marsh Roll X , then I can't go past my bellsouth TT100

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Pitgame , Andy & Lizzy Rule

I have only tried 2 incubators so my vote maybe doesn't count for much.

I used to have a Covatutto 20 which was purchased second hand. Had all sorts of problems with it, it held temp Ok but no way to regulate humidity. Lots of difficulities and I always had to help them out.

Now I have a Bellsouth 100. Had some troubles with it to begin with but think I've got it sorted now. Seems I have to use the inner well and hatch in late autumn or winter. The big problem was early hatch/wet hatch but I was setting too late in the year (central Qld) and using the outer well because (I think) the instructions book said to use it if also using the auto turner. I think the humidity here is higher than designed for. Also, I have upped the protein in the birds diet which also seems to have helped.

I see one of the USA fora has a post which says in styrofoam incubators, using a sponge soaked in water helps if humidity is too low as it has increased surface area. Don't think I need to try that!! They hatch on their own now.

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Thank you kindly,
Tigger

I also had bellsouth100 which I had limited success with.I found the biggest problem was getting the temp to stabilise.I have since bought an IM auto turn incubator and there is no comparison.It leaves the Bellsouth for dead.It's easy to clean,excellent visibility and produces good chicks.My biggest problem is trying to keep chickens seperate at hatching for identification.

Swallow,
bellsouth 100 incubators have their uses. Some people use them as hatchers, but I often hear very mixed results (good and bad). Some people have also told me waterfowl hatch well in them.

They state on the Bellsouth Poultry website "we always said that they have a 5 year life, but we have never been able to get people to turn them in and upgrade"

So that is probably why I have to keep fiddling with the temperature controls and have crooked toes from using 17 & 10 year old bellsouth incubators. If your VERY serious about poultry for the long haul, it would be better to get a more upmarket incubator from the start in my opinion, so it sounds like the IM fits this criteria.

To keep your chicks separate to identify when they hatch (eg toe punch) I have heard of people using onion bags, cardboard/mesh dividers, and mesh containers.

Andy.V

My husband made a divider to fit into the hatchig tray but as it sits directlt under the turning egg trays it can only be as high as the hatcher itself.It looks really good and will keep my short legged little bantam indian game seperate but I have just hatched out some bantam RIR and they vault it effortlessly