How to Choose the Best Egg Incubator For Hatching Chicks

Ready to hatch your own chicks using an incubator but aren’t sure which model to choose? We got you. We’ve been hatching at home for years and in this post, we’ll share our favorite incubator models and how to choose the right one for your farm or homestead.

Why Use An Egg Incubator To Hatch Chicks?

Broody hens are the original egg incubators. As the days lengthen into spring and summer, you may have witnessed your own hens go broody. Perhaps you’ve even hatched with a broody hen before!

But if you have any experience with broody hens, you know that they can be unpredictable and unreliable. They may flirt with broodiness and then give up on their clutch of eggs, or dutifully hatch one year but not the next.

While having hens hatch and raise chicks saves you a ton of work caring for those chicks yourself, the trade off is dependability. Unlike hens, your incubator will stay in broody mode 24/7. And depending on the model you choose, incubation can be close to a set-it-and-forget-it process.

The Incubation Process in a Nutshell

A deep dive into incubating and hatching with an incubator is beyond the scope of this post, but understanding the process will make the following incubator information easier to understand.

So briefly, here’s how hatching with an incubator works:

1. The entire incubation and hatching process takes approximately 21 days.
2. For the first 18 days, the eggs need to be turned 4-6 times daily.
3. The last three days of incubation are known as “lockdown.” During lockdown, the eggs should not be turned to allow the chicks to get into hatching position and hatch successfully.
3. Temperature within the incubator should be at a consistent 99.5℉.
4. Generally, humidity in the incubator should be at 40-50% for the first 18 days, and 60-70% during lockdown.
5. DO NOT open the incubator during lockdown. The abrupt loss of humidity can cause the chicks to become “shrink wrapped” or stuck inside the egg, unable to hatch.

That’s the basics. If I told you nothing else, you would be able to grab your incubator manual and hatch some beautiful chicks! However, there are many ways to get more involved in the process, such as candling the eggs to check on the developing embryos, or performing “eggtopsies” on unhatched eggs to troubleshoot the hatch.

Must-Have Incubator Features For An Easy Hatch

1. Automatic Turners: these will turn the eggs for you at regular intervals throughout the day.
2. Forced Air: forced air incubators use fans for uniform heating and airflow, creating consistent temperature and humidity levels throughout the incubator. While they tend to cost a little more, the make it far easier to maintain and control accurate temperature and humidity–the key factors for a successful hatch. In our experience, well worth it!
   
3. Temperature AND Humidity Sensors: most incubator models have these, and they are a must. We still recommend adding a hygrometer/thermometer combo to your incubator if you have room as a backup monitoring system. ​

Other Considerations Before Purchasing an Incubator:

Here are some suggestions based on our own experience:

1. Don’t buy a styrofoam incubator. They are more difficult to clean, increasing the risk of bacterial buildup in those nooks and crannies, which can affect your hatch and the health of your chicks.
2. Do buy the best you can comfortably afford. The higher hatch rates will make it worth it in the long run!
3. Do buy a slightly bigger incubator than you think you’ll need. Chicken math is real, and you’ll save yourself money now by not needing to upgrade later.
4. Go for the automatic water system. An automated water system is less work for you and helps keep consistent humidity. We found them to be a necessity for our larger cabinet incubators but our smaller incubators are easy to operate without this.

Our Top Egg Incubator Recommendations:

The Incuview

Our first incubator purchase was the Incuview. I researched many incubators before I bought the Incuview, it paid off. I highly recommend this model to anyone new to incubating or who is incubating in smaller quantities (the Incuview can hold up to 27 chicken eggs at a time). 

Why we love the Incuview incubator: 

• Great value: good quality and affordable relative to other, similar models
• Easy to operate
• Forced air
• Automatic egg turners
• Temperature and Humidity Sensors
• See-through cover that lets you see the hatch up close
• Optional automatic water system (additional purchase)

Get the Incuview incubator here.

The GQF Models

For larger, cabinet incubators, we recommend the GQF brand. 

GQF makes an incubator/hatcher all-in-one model, or you can purchase an incubator and hatcher separately. After we outgrew our Incuview, we first purchased the GQF Sportsman and later bought a separate GQF hatcher. 

Why we love GQF: 

• Good quality (and while pricey, still doable for a small farm)
• Can incubate 300 eggs at a time
• Easy to operate
• Forced air
• Automatic egg turners
• Temperature and Humidity Sensors
• Optional automatic water system (additional purchase)

Get the GQF Sportsman here.

Brinsea Incubators

Brinsea is a highly respected incubator brand that makes smaller, table top sized machines of varying sizes. Looking for a model somewhere between the Incuview Sportsman and the GQF? 

The Brinsea Ovation is a perfect option.  

Why it’s great:

• Great quality (though an investment for sure)
• Can incubate 56 eggs at a time
• Easy to operate
• Forced air
• Automatic egg turners
• Temperature and Humidity Sensors and alarm system for peace of mind
• Automatic water system

In conclusion

Whatever model you choose, if this is your first time incubating, get to know your incubator for several days before you add eggs. Set it up, turn it on, and add water according to the instructions to see how it holds temperature and humidity. You’ll quickly get a feel for roughly how much water it needs, how often, and how it responds to temperature fluctuations in your home.

We hope this guide helps you choose the right incubator for you and your flock! Happy hatching!

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