incubator recommendation

[jimred]

i have been waiting patiently for one of the girls to go broody, i cant wait any longer, can anyone reccomend a 0-10 egg fully auto

[RichmondHens]

Where are you Jim Red? Could sell you a reliable broody :-)

The little R Com 3 egg is reliable, but may be smaller than you wish. I use one as a supplement to my broodies. For each clutch I put under a hen I put 3 eggs in the machine. Most hatches I have had from it have been 100%.

[jimred]

Sunny Harlow, so a bit far from you, but thanks for the offer

Are the R-COM range pretty good?

thanks jim

[walldanzig]

Hi Jim

I bought one of those poly box home made ones from Ebay hatched about 30 all fine works a treat. I would reccomend though if you can get one something that self turns

[flighty1]

I have one of the Brinsea Octagon which takes 40 eggs & it has never let me down. I have hatched pheasant, various breeds of duck & chickens. Brinsea also make a 10 & 20 egg size octagon as well as other designs. They are however not the cheapest.

[RichmondHens]

The 3 egg version is the only one I have used (old fashioned girl me - have used broody hens for years). I have found it very easy to use and as mentioned earlier, almost 100% hatch rate (assuming eggs are good of course). If I wanted to buy a larger model I would definitely go for another R Com.

[Bramble-Poultry]

i would rate the Brinsea range as they are reasonably reliable, however, we never got on with teh Octagon 10 autoturn, we nver had a good hatch from that. we ainly use polyhatch and hatchmaster here.

however, from the point of view of something cheap an cheerful, we do have a standby which is an old covutto 16. its a manual turner but is low cost and easy to run. the only down side is that the covutto use a lightbulb as a heat source, which can blow at the most awkward time - always keep a spare bulb in the house. the brinsea uses a solid element so it generally wont blow!

as dan says - go for an autoturn if possible as it will save you a lot of effort!

[jessmorris]

Where are you Jim Red? Could sell you a reliable broody :-)

The little R Com 3 egg is reliable, but may be smaller than you wish. I use one as a supplement to my broodies. For each clutch I put under a hen I put 3 eggs in the machine. Most hatches I have had from it have been 100%.

Hi RH,
I've just done a search for incubator recommendations, and am interested to read that you have found the RCom mini to be so good. I wondered if you put water in from the beginning of the incubation? If you have read my recent posts you will know that I've had no luck with this model. I have followed the instructions......

[RichmondHens]

Hi JM, yes I do put water in from the beginning. When I first got it I followed instructions according to the enclosed leaflet, got 100% hatch first time round and have done the same ever since. I don't always get 100% but the times I haven't had a full hatch from it I think was due to a problem with the eggs rather than the machine. My own eggs always hatch fine in it, it's bought in ones where I tend to have problems, and find the same with putting them under hens too.

I've ummed and aahed over getting a bigger incubator, but there seems little point really given I have so many hens who regularly go broody. And I do hate the whole faff of heat lamps and artificial raising - it's so much easier to have hen doing the work!!

[Hilary B]

Years ago I used an octagon, without the turning cradle, but it was easy to turn the whole thing, rather than individual eggs. If I was going back to chooks (would like to, but likely to continue to be too often away) I would be looking for a semi-auto turn, ie one that you manually move something to turn all the eggs at one go.
Even longer ago I had a 70 egg Brinsea with a platform auto-turn system. Then the turning gadget packed up, but I could still manually move the platform, so it was nice and easy to turn everything.
Fully manual is not for me (but I did OK for one hatching in a poly-box DIY thing).
The heat-lamp thing is fine for tiny numbers (basically not more than 2 clutches under heat at one time, and not too much of the time), or massive commercial jobs. In between, it can be a bit of a pig!

[Munch]

I have a small Brinsea Eco 10, it is a self turner and has its own little water container which is split into 2 halves, you fill one half only until day 18 then fill completely. I have found this little inccy to have to best success rate.

I also have borrowed another, not sure of the name, automatic turner that hold 24 eggs from friend, he swears by it saying he has a fab success rate, but I have had a poor hatch rate from it, out of 28 eggs that have gone through it I have had 7 hatch. I the Brinsea, out of 18 eggs I have had 13 hatch.

We are now looking at investing in the Brinsea 20 auto turner.

[jessmorris]

Hi JM, yes I do put water in from the beginning. When I first got it I followed instructions according to the enclosed leaflet, got 100% hatch first time round and have done the same ever since. I don't always get 100% but the times I haven't had a full hatch from it I think was due to a problem with the eggs rather than the machine. My own eggs always hatch fine in it, it's bought in ones where I tend to have problems, and find the same with putting them under hens too.

I've ummed and aahed over getting a bigger incubator, but there seems little point really given I have so many hens who regularly go broody. And I do hate the whole faff of heat lamps and artificial raising - it's so much easier to have hen doing the work!!

Thanks RH. Its interesting, the humidity thing. I was at a show yesterday in North Yorkshire and 2 folk I talked to there never add water to their incubators. I wonder if it works for you because you are in norfolk? It would be useful to know the relative humidity around the UK...The RCom folk may check it for me, just to check its running ok...

[jessmorris]

I have a small Brinsea Eco 10, it is a self turner and has its own little water container which is split into 2 halves, you fill one half only until day 18 then fill completely. I have found this little inccy to have to best success rate.

I also have borrowed another, not sure of the name, automatic turner that hold 24 eggs from friend, he swears by it saying he has a fab success rate, but I have had a poor hatch rate from it, out of 28 eggs that have gone through it I have had 7 hatch. I the Brinsea, out of 18 eggs I have had 13 hatch.

We are now looking at investing in the Brinsea 20 auto turner.

Interesting! You are also in quite a dry part of the UK, Munch. I may try Brinsea themselves and see if they have any comments to make about adding water or not depending whether you are on the Atlantic side of the UK!......

[petal]

Brinsea are the best! and make sure it turns them for you!

[jessmorris]

Yes, they are recommended a lot by folk......but not the auto 10 egg it seems....