I got me one of these too!! I was afraid to use heat lamps. At first I was using the lights that are red that LOOK like heat lamps and plug into the same fixture but don't get THAT hot, then I realized what I was using wasn't the "right" thing, although I hadn't had any problems with chickies getting cold. So I bought a heat lamp bulb and put it in and all my chicks ran to the opposite end of the brooder and stayed there. I reached in and felt the heat and immediatly removed the bulb and put the old one back in. I had been researching and decided to get one of these heaters and there is NO WAY anything can get burnt with this plate unless someone pecked through a cord or something I guess..... They are so toasty under there. If you put your hand on the bottom of the plate it feels like a warm towel fresh out ot the dryer. I put a wood block the size of heater under it so I wouldn't need to adjust height later - I could just remove the block. 2 best purchese for chicks so far!!Even the Eco models are super easy to use, I have had no problems with mine. All hatched have been over 90% successful, these new ones are cool because the turner is built in, I bought a turner separately and still my whole setup paid for itself within 6 months of owning it. If you're worried about the price just plan to hatch a certain number of chicks strictly to sell, it quickly becomes a asset to even a homestead.
From a Eco Octagon to under the brinsea chick brooder (the 50 chick size).
Never had a fire or any over heated chicks with their brooder.
Look at the Maxi II Eco manual 30 egg incubator. It is $179.00 right now. It isn't automatic so you would have to turn by hand until Lockdown and they don't have a humidity readout so you would have to get one (about $5.00 on Amazon). The cheaper ones don't have it either generally... Even if you are looking at styrofoam for around $80 - $100.00 and then add a turner you are looking at about this much money.... I would save up for it... I went cheaper to begin with for the same reason and paid more in the long run.
This would be a good starter and end product. You get excellant results with these. Moving up would be to a cabinet...Would this be a good starter brand? I have never artificially incubated before and am thinking I might need to for my little production of table birds.
I really only know that the temp and humidity have to stay consistent and lock down on day 18 along with twice daily turning, candeling only on days 7 and 14?
Is artificial incubation time consuming and stressful? I have only hatched using broody hens!
Thanks in advance for feedback
Until you need a cabinet incubator for large numbers of eggs, you will never beat a GQF Hovabator Genesis for "bang for the buck". I also have a Brinsea ECO 20 (with turner) and I get similar results with either incubator. The GQF is a little cheaper and holds twice as many eggs, so it is the bargain of the 2.
