Ten things to check before buying an incubator

Ten things to check before buying an incubator

The primary function of any incubator is to provide a stable and accurate atmosphere.

1. Firstly, the temperature needs to remain in-range, tightly-controlled, and displayed accurately.
For this reason, each incubator should be check-run at the factory and have precise heat on/off set points. The temperature display should be calibrated, ready to use with confidence.

2. Secondly, humidity is necessary, with the water molecule being the chief vector, during the first 10 day for supplying even heat to the eggshell, and thereafter for removing excess metabolic heat from the eggshell. For this reason an incubator should have a relative humidity display.  
It’s desirable to have actively produced humidity by misters and by pumps.

3. Cold and hot spots are notorious for patchy hatching outcomes. Ideally the fan should not blow hot air onto the eggs below it. Nor should there be cold corners.        

4. Automatic egg turning is desirable and egg-turning the eggs is especially critical in the first hours and days, else the embryonic membrane, while it is closing over the top of the primitive embryo, can fuse with the inner shell membrane. This results in the embryo stuck, and an abnormal mid-egg pip.    

5. An egg rack that turns the eggs by rocking them through upright is preferable to one that rolls them horizontally. The clue here is that the commercial hatchery industry would roll the eggs if it was equally as successful, instead of tilting egg-mechs in much larger machines.  

6. Dual power, DC and AC. The second most frequent question asked is what to do if the power goes out. It is desirable to have the option of continuing with a car battery, unaffected by the outage.

7. A transparent top case. There should be good visibility of what is going on especially during the hatch.

8. RCM, the C-Tick Australian electrical safety compliance mark is mandatory for appliances sold here. Without it, there are unknown electrical risks and a fire insurance claim may be declined

9. Some machines specify running with distilled water only. They have narrow channels and small parts that are prone to calcifying and difficult to clean.

10. And we finally come down to the question of cost and the expectations. Price only, is not always an indicator of quality. `Cheap’ is not expected to give us the best outcomes. However, `expensive’ may be so due to business models with layers of margin added-on until they reach you the customer.
Consider instead a local business with a vertical business model, from design to supply. One with long experience and original designs, that protects its intellectual property with design registrations and patents, and instead of spending on advertising, chooses to let you promote its brand for free by its renowned customer service.
Written by Bob Peel, Greatlander