The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Shropshirelass on October 13, 2013, 10:09:35 pm
-
Does anyone rate these & know how much the cradles are as I can only see some online at around £70+ as I have a opportunity to get the incubator cheap but minus the cradle, also is it possible to do a cheap home-made or "bodged cradle" on the cheap? x
-
only as far as its what i used the only time i ever hatched eggs...
it was relatively easy to use, and we got over 50% hatched using it, which for a first time was pretty cool.
the cradle is the bit that provides the rocking motion for the eggs and is an important part of the process unless you want to be turning eggs by hand...
-
We have one, had it given, I wasn't that impressed with it, we left the eggs to hatch in it rather than aseperate hatcher, but had a poor %, the design means you just rock the whole thing over rather than turn each egg. either 3 or five times a day, we bought a cradle. but then we ended up splashing out on the Brinsea Polyhatch, much better, the bottom moves and rods across hold the eggs so they roll with the floor, you can then leave the chicks in there for a couple of days as well.
-
I think the octagon design means you can just turn the unit by hand without the automatic cradle. Three times a day should just about do it. But you can by the cradle separately if you want
-
I've got the bigger version - I think it's the 40 (in fact, I didn't even know they did a 10, I thought it was either a 20 or 40). Anyhow, I had problems with my first cradle so I was turning by hand quite a bit and it was fine. Mine were goose and duck eggs so I tended to turn them end over end with spraying every so often but the octagon design does mean you can just push it back and forth rather than having to rotate each egg individually. You can also set the roll bars inside so they have a bit more space to roll more at either end.
H