Buying Your First Incubator…
I must say, incubating and hatching chicks is my favorite part of our operations here on the farm ♥ And where there’s nothing quite like a broody hen to hatch eggs, a good incubator has it’s perks! The ability to monitor the process in the comfort of your home, perform regular egg check-ups to assess chick development, then finally see those chicks hatch right in front of your eyes…. there is not much in life more fun than being that closely involved!
So now that we’ve determined that hatching chicks is thee most fun thing in the world, let’s take a look at some of the incubators we use here at The Herbelin Family Farm…
The good ole “Nurture Right 360” by Manna Pro Harris Farms. This was the 1st incubator I ever purchased. And the machine that hatched our beloved “Queen CeCe” ♥ That very first incubation run was a tough one though; the hatching eggs came all the way from the east coast during a very warm part of the year. The massive amounts of vibration that occur as fertile eggs move through the postal service did not bode well for my little hatching eggs, and CeCe was the ONLY chick that hatched and survived. All that said though, we’ve since had great hatches in this very same machine using eggs from here on the farm. Our Nurture Right has become a back-up to our Rcom machines, but let’s go over some of the highlights from our user experience with the Nurture Right:
Pros: Runs reliably and temperature is very accurate (as tested with an external thermo/hygrometer), holds a nice clutch of 22 eggs and runs quietly.
Cons: No automatic humidity control. UGH. You really have to baby-sit this incubator to keep the humidity stable. Humidity adjustments include opening and closing the lid vent, adding water as needed and even attempting to remove water (a feeding syringe works best to draw the water out if needed).
Approximate Cost (2025): $179.99 Can by purchased on Amazon or at your local Tractor Supply.
Our current workhorses, the “Rcom Pro20” by RCOM. I am convinced (after using these incubators for over a year now on many different incubation loads), that Rcom may very well make the best incubator on the market! These units do everything for you! Automatic thermal regulation AND humidity control, automatic turning, digital read-out of everything going on in the cycle, alarms for high or low heat, power loss, low water tanks, you name it. It’ll be a little redundant, but here are the highlights of our Rcom experiences:
Pros: Runs at least as well as the Nuture Right (and honestly…probably better!), and is fully automatic. Holds 20 eggs with no internal thermo/hygrometer. All the other perks are pretty much explained above.
Cons: Must still add water manually. Their larger, cabinet style models have water pumps that pump the water from a large reservoir or 1 gallon jug of distilled water. The Pro20 model requires pulling off a little rubber cap and slowly pouring water into the machine. Can be a bit messy at times!
Approximate Cost (2025): $479.99.
Other incubators that get rave reviews include the Brinsea (for smaller runs) and the Hatching Time cabinet incubators (particularly their Setter / Hatcher Combo models). I’ve not used either one of these yet, but always hear good things about them!
One must remember though, that your incubation results rely on many factors. Your incubator is a crucial piece of the puzzle, but proper fertile egg storage is right up there in importance! Hatching eggs stored improperly often result in deformed chicks and low hatch rates. This has been a very real experience for us, so we really pay attention to handing and storage nowadays! We want healthy chickies…every time! ♥