Incubator Buying Guide: Capacity, Brand and Backup

Rated capacity is the best case, not your case

Every incubator box carries a capacity figure, and it is nearly always a chicken egg figure under ideal packing. The number is useful for comparing two machines on the same test. It tells you very little about how many eggs you can put on the trays and still turn them, see them and reach them with a hand.

Three things shrink the usable figure. Trays with dividers or pegs take fewer eggs than flat trays, egg size varies a lot inside one flock, and a turning mechanism needs clearance that the rated figure ignores. Guinea fowl and turkey eggs, if you hatch them, are a different size again, so ask for the count per tray for the egg you will actually set.

Ask the seller for three figures in writing: the eggs per tray for your egg size, the number of trays, and the clearance above the top tray for the turning arm or the fan. Those three numbers, multiplied out, are the capacity you can plan around.

Work out the set size from the chicks you want

Start from the output, not the box. Decide how many day-old chicks you want each week, then work back. Divide that target by the share of eggs you expect to become chicks. That share is fertility multiplied by hatch of fertile eggs, so a flock that is 85 percent fertile and hatches 80 percent of its fertile eggs gives a combined 68 percent. Divide the chick target by 0.68 and you have the eggs to set each week.

Those rates are yours to fill in. Your flock's record will be better or worse than the working figures here, and a farm that keeps a proper record of fertility and hatch soon knows its own number. Until then, plan with the lower figure so the machine is never short. If you are choosing the birds first, our broiler day-old chicks page and layer day-old chicks page show the batch sizes we supply, so you can set the incubator against the flock you are planning to rear.

A worked case: 150 chicks a week needs about 221 eggs set each week, because 150 divided by 0.68 is 220.6. The setter holds eggs for 18 days and the hatcher for the last three, so a farm that sets every week keeps about three weekly sets in the setter at once. That is 663 egg places in the setter and one week's set, 221 places, in the hatcher.

The setter is the expensive part of the plan. A farm that wants a steady weekly supply often buys two machines and stages the sets across them. Our article on staggered setting works through that schedule day by day.

Choosing a machine size you can actually run

Bigger is not automatically better. A large machine that you fill once a month holds the same eggs in the same heat, but when one part fails it takes the whole set with it. Two medium machines spread the risk, let you stage the sets, and fit a room that a single large machine would overheat.

The question to ask is how many eggs you would lose if this machine stopped tonight. If the answer is the whole season's chicks, buy two machines, or buy one and agree a hatch-out arrangement with someone who has spare space. Our hatchery page explains how we run our own setters and hatchers, which is a useful benchmark for thinking about yours.

Room matters too. A closed room with several machines, lamps and people in it runs warmer than the thermostat expects, and the machines' fans have to push that heat out. Place the machine where the room stays at or below the temperature you set it to, and keep it out of direct sun and away from the window.

Brand: the question is parts and service, not the logo

We will not name a brand in this guide. Models change faster than any article can keep up, and a machine that works well for one farm can be poorly set up on another. What lasts is the parts list and the service behind it.

A machine has five parts that fail, and each should have a replacement you can buy in Ghana within a week: the heater element, the thermostat or controller, the temperature and humidity sensor, the fan motor, and the turning motor or tray mechanism. The door seal and the trays come next. Ask the seller to show you the parts list with prices, and to say where each part is kept.

• Thermostat: a digital controller with a separate probe, or a simple dial. Ask how it is calibrated.
• Heater: a replaceable element with a stated rating, not a sealed unit you must throw away.
• Turning: manual trays, a tilting tray or a motor, and how each one fails.
• Warranty: what it covers, for how long, and who pays the postage on a faulty part.
• Local service: a named person or workshop in Accra, Kasoa or Kumasi who has repaired this model.

A cheaper machine with spares on a shelf in Kasoa beats an expensive one whose heater takes weeks to arrive from abroad. The first time a heater fails in the middle of a set, the spare part and the person who can fit it matter more than the name on the front.

Backup power: plan it before the machine arrives

In a power cut the heater and the fan matter most, and the turning system matters too if it runs on a motor. A typical small machine does not draw much power, but it draws it continuously for the whole set, so the backup has to carry the set, not just the next hour. Read the running watts of each part from the nameplate, add them up for the machine, and write the figure on the quote beside the price.

A cut that lasts minutes is a different job from one that lasts a night. Short cuts are where a battery and inverter earn their place, because they switch over fast enough that the heater never really stops. Long cuts need a generator or a source you can start by hand. Our guide to incubating through power cuts covers what to keep running, and our guide to generators, solar and inverters covers how to choose the source itself.

Comparing the backup options for a hatch

The table compares the four backups we see on farms. None of them is perfect, and most farms that hatch regularly use more than one.

The last row costs almost nothing and can still help, but only once you have measured how long the machine holds its heat. That measurement is the cool-down test below.

Test the cool-down before the first set

Run the machine empty for at least two days before any egg goes in, with water in the trays and the room at its usual temperature. Then switch the heater off at the plug and record the temperature at egg height every 15 minutes. You are measuring two things: how fast the machine loses heat, and how long you have before the egg temperature falls far enough to harm the embryo once eggs are in.

A machine that drops a degree in an hour is a different asset from one that drops that much in ten minutes. Write the figures in the record book beside your power log. With those two sheets together you have a plan you can act on at two in the morning, instead of a guess you make in the dark.

A buying checklist for the machine itself

Use this list on every machine before you pay, and keep the answers with the quote.

1. Write down your weekly chick target and the hatch rate you expect from fertile eggs.
2. Ask for the usable tray count and eggs per tray for your egg size.
3. Ask for the parts list with prices, and the place each part is kept.
4. Confirm the heater element can be replaced without buying a new machine.
5. Confirm the thermostat is digital with a separate probe, and ask how it is calibrated.
6. Confirm how humidity is added, whether by water trays, a sponge or a reservoir, and how much water the machine uses each day.
7. Ask how often the eggs are turned, and whether turning can be stopped for transfer.
8. Ask who will service the machine in your town, and how quickly they respond.
9. Check the warranty in writing, including who pays postage on a faulty part.
10. Plan the backup power and the cool-down test before the machine is delivered.

A good machine holds its temperature in a narrow band once it has warmed up, with the door closed. It should not swing across a range on every cycle. Check its thermometer against a reference, as our calibration guide explains, before you trust the display.

Mistakes that cost more than the machine

• Buying by the rated figure, then setting a full tray of mixed egg sizes.
• Buying one large machine and having no plan for the week its heater fails.
• Accepting a brand with no local spares and nobody nearby who can repair it.
• Setting the machine in a hot corner, under a window or beside a generator's exhaust.
• Plugging the machine into an extension lead shared with a fridge and a fan.

The last one causes more trouble than the list suggests. A fridge compressor's start-up surge can trip a shared lead and cut the heater with it. Give the machine its own socket and keep the fridge on another circuit.

If you do not want to buy a machine yet

Many farmers test the idea with one or two sets before they buy anything. You can send fertile eggs to us through our egg hatching service, or buy fertile eggs and set them yourself once your machine arrives. Ask for the current price before you send anything. We confirm every price in writing before payment, and nothing is paid online.

If you tell us your weekly target and set size on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503, we can help you check whether one machine or two is the better start, and when the chicks would be ready. When your plan is clear, you can place the order through the order form. Our about page explains who we are and where the hatchery sits in Opeikuma, Kasoa.

Questions farmers ask