While you don’t need to go all out if you only plan on incubating a few eggs here and there, make sure you have your farm’s goal’s in mind when you are purchasing. Generally, you can find incubators as small as a six-egg capacity and as large as 96. These advanced models keep temperature and humidity steady, and regulate everything for you.īesides that, you will also want to consider the size of your incubator. These tend to be on the costlier side of the spectrum, but they take so much guesswork out of incubating that the price tends to be worth it. The final step is the automatic incubator.
Also known as forced air incubators, these machines contain small fans to keep the temperature a bit more consistent. It allows warm air to circulate about the box so that the heat is more adequately distributed. Now, if you go back and reread my article about hatching chicken eggs, you’ll remember that this big of a swing is a definite no-no.Ī circulated air incubator is the next step up from a still air incubator. This variation in temperature can cause difficulty in hatching, because many still air incubators have temperature fluctuations of up to five degrees. This kind of incubator contains no element that circulates warm air, which can lead to warm or cool spots. The most basic kind of incubator is a still air incubator. When you are looking at incubators, you will see a few different options. However, the higher end incubators (and by higher end, we mean just a bit more in cost - you don’t have to spend a fortune) will also have automatic turners, temperature gauges, and more. It will have water channels and platforms upon which to rest the eggs. Your basic incubator will be inexpensive and easy to use, containing a heating element and in some rare cases, a fan. This can be a challenge if, like most of us, you work a full-time job or are incubating eggs in a classroom. Purchasing a lower-end incubator will require you to be constantly checking the humidity and temperature (several times a day, in fact), and turning the eggs as well. While you can purchase incubators for incredibly inexpensive prices, keep in mind that the cheaper the incubator, the more work there is that you will likely have to do. Once the initial purchase of your incubator has happened, you won’t need to pay a cent for new birds - minus the cost of feeding your existing flock and electricity, that is. Purchasing a good incubator will allow you to hatch your own birds, permitting you to maintain a closed flock to prevent disease and to save money. You can save money and help preserve the integrity of your genetics. Using an incubator has several other benefits as well. They can learn all about the circle of life and get to play with super adorable baby chicks. Call it bad luck or call it living in the Great White North - but either way, hatching chicken eggs the natural way is not an option for us.Īn incubator takes a lot of the guesswork and estimation out of hatching eggs, and allows you to produce large quantities of chickens or other poultry as often as you want to incubate - say, every 21 days or so? Plus, it provides a great educational experience for children in a classroom or home setting. Our climate is too cold and our resources too scant to rely on nature taking its course in the chicken coop - plus, in our four years of raising chickens they have not once become broody. However, in many cases (like ours), using a hen is simply not possible. The best incubator, of course, is nature - a broody hen will be the cheapest and most efficacious incubator you can find.
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