Introduction to Egg Incubators
Incubator Special
So you’ve taken the plunge and decided to bring on your own chicks – hurray! Oh, but hang on a second….you’re going to need an incubator and you’re worried it’s going to be scary and difficult to decide which one to go for!
Nah, it’s easy really … although there is a lot of choice on the market you really just need to decide on a couple of things to help you choose which incubator to go for.
1. Method of Turning used by the Incubator: As the eggs incubate it’s essential to turn them to ensure you get healthy chicks. The eggs will need to be turned at least 3x a day for chicken eggs – preferably more often.
Incubators are therefore divided into 3 types as below:
- Manual incubators– you turn each egg by hand in a manual incubator eg. the Brinsea Mini Eco (£71.15)
- Semi-automatic incubators – in one of these you will either tilt the whole incubator several times a day or use an attached lever or rod to turn them (turns all the eggs at once) eg Corti 25 semi-Automatic Incubator (£99.95)
- Automatic incubators – these regularly turn the eggs gradually over during the day. Different manufacturers use different methods to do this eg Corti 25 fully automatic incubator (£148.05) uses a turning unit to rotate the egg back and forth. The Brinsea Mini Advance (£132.47) is another option if you do decide to go for an automatic incubator
Our Comments:
As you’d guess Manual types are usually cheaper so good if working to a tight budget. Also, customers often start with this type particularly if they want to get the kids involved and get some “hands-on” experience of incubation.
Some of the Semi-automatic variety can often be converted to become Automatic at a later date – to do this you can often buy a “cradle”. If this sounds like something you might want to do please check that the model can be upgraded like this at time of purchase.
2. Next thing to consider is... How many eggs do you wish to hatch at one time? Different sized incubators take different numbers of eggs – by all means pick one that suits your current needs but you may wish to consider the future too
eg the Brinsea Mini Advance (£132.47 ) takes 7 chicken eggs while the Brinsea Mini Eco (£71.15) takes 10 and the Corti 25 semi-Automatic Incubator (£99.95) takes 25 at a time.
3. Temperature and Humidity these are important factors and do need to be controlled to ensure healthy chicks result so make sure to follow the instructions that come with the incubator to ensure these are attended to. Formerly incubators were often "still-air" but now are most are fan-assisted and this allows you to maintain the temperature required. Humidity is important but its overall average humidity over the day that’s important so if its slightly too humid at one point but a bit too dry later on then don't panic; as long as you're aiming for a good average level of humidity you'll still be able to keep the eggs and therefore the chicks healthy.
All our egg incubators are available here
Any questions? Just ask - you know the drill!
- call: 01620 860058 or
- email: [email protected]
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