Cabinet Incubator...best type?

madison174 · Post by **madison174** » Wed May 25, 2016 2:16 pm

Up until now, I've run smaller incbuators but I'd like to just run one...a big one. Running 2 incubators plus another for lockdown is getting harder to find space for, have to keep checking to make sure I haven't missed any eggs. So we're looking into cabinet incubators, my options so far as I can see are Sportsman or Brinsea. Am I missing any? 100-150 eggs is lots, I'll still use my other smaller incubator for lockdown. Anyone have any preferences, insight, advice? Anyone have one they're looking to sell? This will be a major purchase, so I want to make sure I've done my research. I've read online about both types, but real world insight is always preferable.

redninja · Post by **redninja** » Wed May 25, 2016 2:46 pm

I came across a link to these on one of the Ontario poultry facebook pages. No experience with them, but the are in Canada, out west somewhere.
http://www.svendirect.com/egg-incubators/

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Wed May 25, 2016 5:58 pm

madison174 wrote:QR_BBPOST 100-150 eggs is lots, .

She says that now....... hee hee......

I have a used Sportsman it performed flawlessly. The only addition I made was to cover it with styrofoam (helped, it was in a cold room), and I added an interior light so I could see inside when eggs were hatching, because I used mine as a hatcher too. You can't really hatch as many eggs as you can incubate, I'd recommend a dedicated hatcher if you are going to hatch more than 6-9 dozen or so eggs at a time.
If you buy a used Sportsman, make sure you get the humidity trays. They have to be in there, wet or dry, for it to operate properly, the instructions say.

madison174 · Post by **madison174** » Wed May 25, 2016 9:10 pm

Thanks Robbie. 6-9 dozen? Yeah that won't be happening. I've still got my brinsea octagon for hatching...56 at a time...lots for me.

Post by **poultry_admin** » Thu May 26, 2016 4:01 pm

Robbie wrote:QR_BBPOST
madison174 wrote:QR_BBPOST 100-150 eggs is lots, .
She says that now....... hee hee......

I have a used Sportsman it performed flawlessly. The only addition I made was to cover it with styrofoam (helped, it was in a cold room), and I added an interior light so I could see inside when eggs were hatching, because I used mine as a hatcher too. You can't really hatch as many eggs as you can incubate, I'd recommend a dedicated hatcher if you are going to hatch more than 6-9 dozen or so eggs at a time.
If you buy a used Sportsman, make sure you get the humidity trays. They have to be in there, wet or dry, for it to operate properly, the instructions say.

The techie I am I had a watt meter on our last duck hatch and measured that the 840hrs running (35 days for these ducks), the sportsman incubator and hatcher (on only when needed) used a combined 200kWh to hatch them. For us that's about $50 full cost.
Considerable when having only a few eggs, not bad when the thing is full with it's 180 eggs capacity....

I like the addition of the Styrofoam! If I got really into it, I am sure I can show you a correlation between ambient temperature in the room and the electricity usage. The warmer the room, the less electricity....

madison174 · Post by **madison174** » Thu May 26, 2016 10:24 pm

For me I'd run it as full as I could but remove eggs for hatching. If it were to hold 100 eggs, I'd set 33 each week, pull the ones out to hatch and restock it. It wouldn't run nearly empty at all, but the thought of efficiency hadn't really occurred to me. I suppose right now almost anything is more efficient than running 2-4 little ones

Post by **poultry_admin** » Fri May 27, 2016 5:58 pm

My thought wasn't efficiency in the first place, I just honestly wanted to know how much they cost to run.

If you want to make use of it the most, it's more efficient to fill it all the way, move to hatcher and fill again. The way you describe is not the most effective. The 2 weeks to fill and 2 weeks to empty the incubator is not so great. And having seen first hand that it gets to temp well within an hour, turning off while waiting for the next full batch is a good thing. And also you are running the hatcher for almost the whole time (takes the same amount of power as the incubator), but it has only one set of chicks in it at any time.

I do understand that it's a problem to get 180 hatching eggs in 18 days from typical backyard flocks. So what I am describing above is not always possible. It just uses electricity better than the 1wk batching... I know it's not always possible to run them like that for many reasons.

madison174 · Post by **madison174** » Fri May 27, 2016 10:38 pm

All very good points, things to consider. My flock doesn't lay that many eggs in that time frame...my husband would freak if I had that many lol! Lots of things to think about, thank you for your insight. Much appreciated!

Post by **poultry_admin** » Fri May 27, 2016 11:04 pm

I figured,
Maybe there is another enthusiast near you for sharing space? Just a thought. Yes, that has it's own problems...

Post by **WLLady** » Sat May 28, 2016 8:58 am

Not much to add but to say keep your smaller incubators and run them for test hatches or 42 batches....you can always use them instead of the big one that you get. My sportsman is up to temp and humidity within 10 minutes of turning on. So i just turn on the hatcher as needed. The incubator really can hold lots-180 if you use the sportsman racks. I can fit them all in the hatcher just fine. The only thing with them is my arm is not quite long enough to reach the back without crawling in....i just need 2 inches!! Makes cleaning a bit annoying-doable though. I love the sportsman and havent had any problems...i also ended up custom hatching which was nice...so it has run full up to now. Now i have 70 or so in there-a custom and my last hatches for the year on my projects...and that is it....they are a tad noisy with the fans but nothing awful.