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Post by welliebird on Jan 27, 2005 8:33:23 GMT
Hi folks,
I am looking for a reasonably priced incubator for dedicated hatching so only needs to be manual and preferably still air.
Has anyone got such a beast lurking that they dont want or can anyone suggest something good and CHEAP to buy! ;D
Thanks
Faith
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Post by Sean Dewis on Jan 27, 2005 11:38:31 GMT
I remember that when I was a kid, my Dad made his own incubator in a wooden box with a perspex lid.
The heating was done with a 100W lightbulb wired in series with a immersion heater thermostat, which provided the temperature regulation. A regular thermometer gave the reading of actual temperature, and allowed tweaking of the dial on the top of the thermostat until the correct temperature was achieved.
He turned the eggs manually, obviously.
He used this setup for many many years before getting fed up with turning eggs and invested in automatics.
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Post by welliebird on Jan 27, 2005 12:34:07 GMT
Hi Sean,
That sounds an excellent contraption - now I wonder if my OH would be up to the job...
Thanks for that info - I'll have to do some sweet talking & see what I can get! ;D
Faith
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Post by ROBERT on Jan 27, 2005 18:11:34 GMT
Hi All
I am also in the middle of making my own incubator. I have a thermostat rigged up to a 100 wat bulb giving controlabble heat the only problem now is humidity. do I need to buy a humidity meter or is there a simpler method of regulating the humidity
any help would be greatly appreciated
Robert
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Post by Admin on Jan 27, 2005 20:35:46 GMT
How about an hovabator or an ecostat..Both are budget models and i believe work very well.
I have a maino(fan assisted),ecostat(still air) and a covatutto(fan assisted) and have found these to be good apart from the Maino which has had mega problems with humidity.
I have just bought another Ecostat 60 egg still air model today for hatching myself.
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Post by welliebird on Jan 27, 2005 20:41:50 GMT
HI,
That's encouraging if you are buying an ecostat - I have been trying to buy a Hovabator from ebay but I keep getting sniped at the last minute!
Do you have any suggestions as to the cheapest place to buy a Hovabator or an Ecostat please?
Thanks
Faith
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Post by Admin on Jan 27, 2005 21:57:24 GMT
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Post by meaculpa on Jan 28, 2005 22:14:49 GMT
When bidding on ebay put the highest amount you will be willing to pay.It's called a proxy bid. Ebay then bids up to that amount on your behalf and you cannot get sniped. Otherwise use a snipe programme. I use hovobators and I like them a lot.
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Post by welliebird on Jan 29, 2005 13:22:29 GMT
Hi M, Thanks for that tip - I shall have to do that in future, it's very disappointing to find you have been pipped to the post at the last second! I have now decided to go for another Octagon 20 (but a manual) as I have had such good success with my existing one (100%) maybe better to stick to what I kn ow. My only concern with the Hovabators is the polystyrene - if I put it in the loft for storage over winter the mice will undoubtedly eat it like everything else they get their little munchers into!  |
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Post by onymee on Jan 29, 2005 21:22:41 GMT
If you have mice in the loft I wouldn't store anything up there at all.I lost too many nice things to mice when I stored stuff in a shed which had mice. Books, letters, clothes, luggage all chewed, peed on and nested in  They will easily chew plastic and electrical cables to your brinsea. I love my hovobator and have bought several of them. I find that being polysyrene they hold their temperature better if the power fails, or the temperature in the room fluctuates from daytime to night time. I find them easy to clean too and of course they hold loads of eggs:  I think 60, and for a 60 egg autoturn forced air hovobator, the price is round the same as a basic 20 egg brinsea. I think though that incubators must be like cars. We all remember with fondness our first one  Another brand I would consider if I couldn't have a hovobator is Maino. I really do think that Brinsea is over priced. I have an octagon 10 once. Had a terrible hatch rate with it and flogged it down the car boot sale eventually and put the money towards my first hovobator. Ideally we would all save our money and train our hens to go broody when we told them to ;D |
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Post by poacher on Feb 1, 2005 20:31:06 GMT
HI
CHECK THIS OUT IF YOU WANT A CHEAP ,DECENT INCUBATOR!
PS MAIL THEM FIRST TO SEE HOW MUCH POSTEGE ETC IS....http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4354556532&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT
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Post by welliebird on Feb 1, 2005 20:47:39 GMT
Hi folks,
I have actually now bought another Octagon 20 without cradle just for hatching. However, thanks for the link poacher, I have emailed those guys in America to see what the cost of shipping here would be. If it is cheap enough, it may be worth me getting one anyway.
Thanks for all your input.
Faith
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Post by simbadmoses on Feb 7, 2005 21:10:04 GMT
Hi
If you want a really good incubator very cheap why dont you do what i did and use a fridge.
I have 2 i use, 1 for setting and 1 for hatching.
If you are interested i can tell you how to do it and so cheaply that you would be suprised
If you are contact me.
You can also email me at simbadmoses@aol.com
Regards ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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They will easily chew plastic and electrical cables to your brinsea.
