I Bought Myself an Incubator
One of the projects we’re going to undertake on our homestead this year is to start incubating our own eggs again. With the way chick prices have gone up over the years and with the increased variety in poultry breeds and egg color variations that have become available, it just makes sense.
Shipping minimums on certain types of poultry make it really cost prohibitive to get “just a few turkeys” or a “goose or two.” Personally, I’m hoping that by diversifying the colors in my carton that it makes the kids a little more eager to go on that egg hunt our free-ranging flock.
So I bought myself a dozen olive egger and chocolate hatching eggs and am looking forward to the new baby chicks this spring. (And ducklings. And Royal Palm Turkeys. And guinea fowl to help manage those pesky ticks.) And then I bought myself an incubator. (I know. Seems backwards, but thankfully, it showed up before the eggs.)
We’ve incubated eggs before but with mixed success. We used one of those styrofoam incubators that you can get for under $100 at the local farm store. We had a couple successful hatches and then temperature spikes happened time after time right in the last couple days. It was so disappointing!
We had trouble with keeping the styrofoam clean between hatchings, the mess stained it, and it started to smell. That’s to say nothing of the time one of the little children stabbed holes it in with a pencil. Or the time that one of them bumped the temperature control while peeking in at a newly hatched duck and accidentally cooked the poor thing. If you’re planning to incubate your own eggs, I can’t recommend making the investment in a higher quality model enough.
After researching all of the brands available for small scale, homestead incubation, I came to the conclusion that Nurture Right Egg Incubator seem like the best. They have all the features I wanted like accommodating versatility in egg size, automatic controls, automatic turning, sanitary design and ability to be easily cleaned, an alarm, and a whopping 2 year warranty! (Which is double the warranty of it’s competitors.)
The Nurture Right 360 Features
- FOR CHICKENS, DUCKS & PHEASANTS: This incubator for hatching eggs can hold up to 22 chicken eggs,…
- 360° VISIBILITY: Our egg incubator features 360° viewability, allowing you to monitor eggs from…
- 360° INDUCED AIRFLOW: Achieve optimal hatch rates with our egg incubator’s 360° airflow…
•Capacity: up to 22 chicken eggs
•Variable Egg Sizes can be incubated at the same time
•Pre-Programmed: Days of incubation and days when stop turning
•Steady temperature control
•Automatic Egg rotation
•Quiet
• 360 degree Viewing Window
•Integrated Candling
•Variable air control lever
•Hygienic, Easy Cleaning
Last update on 2025-02-17 at 17:26 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
I am looking at purchasing an incubator and am wondering about your experience with this incubator?
We have been very happy with it! Successfully hatched out 2 batches of chicks last year 🙂
Disappointed I’m not able to enter because I live in Canada. Hopefully next time it will be open to Canadians too?
So sorry so many abandoned you, I wasn’t interested in the bundle but I Love your blog and wouldn’t be without all the useful info!
We have been considering buying an incubator for almost a year, would LOVE to win!
So glad you are here to tell me about your adventures in homesteading. I really appreciated where you wrote about your farmer’s market fail. I want it all–I try to do it all–and reality is I can not either. Thank you ! for keeping me posted on your successes and failures..