The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Buffy the eggs layer on October 24, 2010, 08:49:36 am
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Hi all :wave:
I would like to purchase a reliable and easy to use incubator, can anyone recomend one? ideally I want one that turns the eggs and can be used to hatch the birds. I would also like to purchase a manufactured box with a heat lamp and thermostat for raising the chicks after hatching.
Any feedback greatly appreciated
Buffy
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Depends how many you want to hatch at a time. I have on loan a Brinsea 20 and it rocks the eggs but doesn't have any controls except the heat can be turned up or down. Does fine - have hatched out 8 ducklings so far and 3 more in there now. Not expensive I don't think. The chap I borrowed it from made a brooder box from a large cardboard box with a heat lamp attached through the lid. we put a plastic base in it and have loads of old towels that we change every 3/4 hours. They are very smelly inside and are hopefully going out today.
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Thanks Doganjo,
how long did you keep them in the cardbard box for?
B
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I have a Corti 25 fully automatic incubator.... great for us. no humidity indicatir but easily controlled by how much you fill the tanks. chicks can be left in for about 24 hours, though I prefer to move them under the lamp as they roll the eggs around too much and confuse them!
have a look at eg the incubator shop online to get ideas and compare...
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Thanks Doganjo,
how long did you keep them in the cardbard box for?
B
The smelly things are going outside tomorrow - exactly 3 weeks old. Can't stand it in the dining room any more, and the box is now being trashed - they are peeling the inside layer of cardboard off. Obviously bored now ;D
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I used to have an Brinsea Octagon 20, I found the hatch rate quite low so wouldn't recommend those.
I replaced it with this one (ME3A Maino Incubator, 50 egg) and have had very good results from it:
http://www.banburycrossincubators.com/epages/62063992.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/62063992/Products/ME3A
The 'nursery':
http://www.ascott.biz/acatalog/Brooders_and_Poultry_Brooder_Cages.html
:chook:
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best bet Corti 50 with turning moter .iv had all the incubates a long the way price hatch best bet using a corvito at the mo 150 egg Manuel turn bought for 100 pounds mite use it next season or sell it on .iv also got 4 hova baters to sell orto turn
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We have a Corti 25 with automatic turner, I would always suggest getting one with a turner, saves a lot of time and dissapointment, we have had our for a few years now and found it to be excellent, have a batch in at the moment due to hatch early next week, the only thing is you have to remember to turn off the turner at the right time but otherwise its plain sailing. They can stay in for 24 hours after, then I move mine to a large packing case with a lamp over the top, I dont use any special unit and as long as you keep an eye on them and note any changes daily they seem to do fine.
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WE use the Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance with good results, only needs checking the water levels regularly and chicks stay in for a few hours (until dry) after hatching. We have only done chickens so far though, don't know if it is different for ducks or other species.
It was at the right price and is not too big, lives happily on a bookshelf in the living room during incubation. I would recommend it, but it really depends on how many eggs you plan to hatch at any one time.
For afterwards we use a large plastic Ikea under-bed box with chicken wire around and a lamp hang up. Sheet of paper changed daily and box easily washed/disinfected at the end.
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We have 2 Rcom Suros and we can't fault them. They weren't cheap but we've had really good hatch rates from them...
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We bought a Rcom pro 20 with auto turn and auto humidity and this thing switches off the turning 3 days before the hatch!! After trying various brood box designs, the best one is one that I made out of OSB. Basically a wooden box about 150mm high with a mesh top and a red heat lamp hanging above it. I put a digital thermometer in the box, but if the chicks ate too cold they huddle around the light so if they are spread around they are happy. Don't plan to hatch in the winter like I did!! They are too smelly to keep in the house so I put them in a shed but the temps last winter hit -10c and we lost 2 chicks, so I put a greenhouse heater in the shed. This got expensive!!
Simon
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Thanks Simon,
the Rcom Suro does look pretty good from what I have seen. I didnt plan 2 hatch any chicks in winter. I currently have a dog crate in my proch containing a broody and too chicks which is bad enough! They were outside initially but a forumer told me that the chicks will struggle to eat enough in the shorter days to get through the longer nights. As a result its easier to rig up a lamp on a timer inside the house than it is out in the coop.
Can wait till they are back outside though, heaven knows when that will be ::)
Buffy
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I've got a Brinea mini advance as my first foray into hatching my own eggs with variable results but I think that's more to do with buying eggs from Ebay than anything else. My last hatch was 5/7 so was pretty chuffed with that - those eggs came from a local breeder and didn't have the postal system to contend with! My first lot was only 3/6 but 2 of those that didn't make it out were fully formed - I was gutted about that.
The other hatchings we've had from it are:
2/6
4/6
2/6
It's got an automatic turner with temp alarms, turn rate adjust etc. All you have to worry about are the water/humidity levels.
Captain