How to Buy a Chicken Incubator

Chicken incubators are readily available from online sources, farm supply stores and commercial hatcheries. You can chose an incubator that automatically turns the eggs, or one where the eggs can be turned by hand. They come small enough to hatch three eggs for the classroom experience or cabinet units that will hatch over 2,000 eggs. Expense depends on how many chicks you want to hatch.

Things You'll Need

  • Eggs
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Instructions

    • 1

      Purchase an egg tray to accommodate specific sizes of eggs. Will you be hatching bantam, quail, large hen, duck or goose? Each will require a different size cradle cup. Decide how large an incubator you will need by determining how many eggs you will hatch. Be aware that different species, for instance chickens and geese, will require different incubation periods and heat adjustment. Read the instructions before setting the eggs.

    • 2

      Start the automatic turner in two to three days according the incubator instructions. If you prefer to hand turn the eggs, the same instructions apply. Hand turning requires you to be present two times a day, morning and evening, to physically turn the egg over like the hen would do in her nest. Leaving them stationary will cause a malformed chicken or death to the embryo.

    • 3

      Test the warning buzzer on fully automatic incubators. This buzzer reminds you when to open the air ventilators. Familiarize yourself with the countdown read out to hatching day. If this is not automatic, place a calendar near the incubator so you can keep track of when to open air vents and stop turning eggs. Incubators can be fully automatic and can adjust temperature and moisture content while some require that you add water when the levels are too low and manually adjust temperature. Be sure and read the instruction manual to find out what the incubator does on its own and what is required of you.