Cheap Chinese Incubators

[ooptec]

Bought one this winter and patiently waiting for duck and goose eggs to collect and incubate.

for a review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwnfsZV-j00

or read
http://www.selfsufficientme.com/blog/view/860/cheap_chinese_chicken_poultry_incubators___do_they_work_

Had a couple of farm innovator ones, the styro ones like little giant, hovabators and thought they weren't very good

[Davinci]

I think anything with a digital temp controller is light years ahead of the wafer set up. Those wafers were prone to manufacturing defects, which could wildy affect the temps and your ability to accurately change the temp settings. I've seen wafers as warped as a record left in the sun. There is NOT WAY you could get accurate temps with a wafer shaped like a potato chip! Or if the wafer was mis-threaded onto the screw, again, that would make temps wonky. I don't think the design of the Hovabator was so bad, but the quality control that reflected a complete non-understanding of how incubators work, was terrible.

I think the video shows a pretty fancy looking unit, considering they claim it's cheaper. Let us know how it works.

[prairie dog]

I have used LITTLE GIANT now for three or four years and never a problem ? other then the cleaning of the Styro foam after the hatch . But those units look good !

[Sweetened]

I bought Ooptec's FI's, and I don't mind them.  Once you get that temp just about where it needs to be, it's fine, it's just getting it there that's the trouble.  It varies a tonne at first, however for setting only frozen eggs in, it did very well, producing one fully healthy chantecler chick and 2 other eggs that died late term -- not bad at all for fully frozen eggs that sat in 106 degree temperatures for over an hour at least.

[niglefritz]

We have an old metal type. I cannot remember the name of it, but it is tin/steel/aluminum?...something silvery anyway, round, with a wafer inside them. They are simple. They are supposed to work well, so the seller said. They claimed that they didn't have issues hatching with it. They just wanted to focus on other ventures and decided to sell it.

We read that they were good for beginners...all good reviews. I guess we will see how they do...and how we do. We have only used broodies before.  :S 

[Ryan]

The old style hovabators or the many copycats like the farm innovations ones we have are good enough and have certainly proven themselves. I'm thinking about going back to my reptiles keeping and breeding days for an experiment with ours.

I'm going to get a digital proportional thermostat, reptile keepers use them all the time to maintain proper temps as well as for incubators. They stay accurate to within .01 degree and are constantly adjusting themselves, completely plug and play so just turn the wafer up to it's max and plug into the thrmostat. All the convenience of the fancy new ones in the old style styrofoam Hovabator.

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