New cabinet incubator

[LhigginsTN]

I just received part of my incubator order. 1502 sportsman. It looks like this thing will actually hold 288 chicken eggs or 1488 quail eggs.

I’ve got a roo to every 3-5 hens and I’m not worried about fertility issues. All separate areas. Could I really see these 80-95% hatch rates people claim? I count every egg. If 100 go i usually get 50 out at best. I’m hoping for 80+ if the claims are true.

I’d even considered running barnyard mix through as a test. I am mostly supplying these to local buyers which I’ve done in the past.

 

[Debbie292d]

Wow, nice! Congrats on the new incubator. All I know is that model is popular with those that go cabinet incubator.

Good luck and hope you really do better than 80%!

 

[Island Coppers]

If I can get a 70% hatch rate from eggs shipped from the east coast and hatched in a plastic gizmo from China, then I'd bet you can do at least 10% better. Very likely that you can consistently hit a 90%+ rate, imho. Monitor the conditions like a hawk for the first few times and get the incubator dialed in. Best luck

 

[LhigginsTN]

i’m hoping so I had a couple of those Chinese units that did pretty well.

The ones that have been coming out lately have a lot of defects. I think a lot of the issue is in the temperature regulation and I don’t think the humidity measurement is accurate.

 

[Island Coppers]

LhigginsTN,​

Agreed, anyone using one of the plastic domed incubators would be well advised to put additional temperature and humidity sensors in it. Mine always shows some very reassuring readings but the added senors reveal quite a bit of fluctuation. Additional insulation really helped stabilize the temps.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

You could very well, but another thing to consider is that the nutrition and health of the parent stock play a crucial role in hatch results as well. For 2 weeks before I collect hatching eggs I put poultry cell in my breeder’s water. It greatly increased hatch rates especially in my rarer hard to hatch breeds.