Chicken Incubators

If you have made the decision to raise chickens from eggs, then you will probably need a chicken incubator. The chicken egg incubator takes the place of the mother hen. The mother hen will sit on the eggs keeping them warm and will regularly turn the eggs with her beak to keep the embryo from sticking to the shell and possibly causing problems with the unborn chick.

When hatching your own eggs, you need to be careful of the temperature, humidity, air flow and egg turning. A lot of poulty incubators will turn the eggs for you but some you will have to turn manually. Of course, the size and type of incubator that you will need will depend on how many chicks you are planning to hatch. When looking for the proper incubator, you want to find one that can measure the humidity levels. This is very important in providing the right atmosphere for your egg to develop in the way that is should.

You can find chicken incubators that hold only a few eggs such as a mini incubator. These incubators will hold from 3-7 eggs depending on the size of the eggs.  You can also find industrial size incubators that may hold thousands of eggs. Of course, there are in between sizes as well.

A poultry incubator will usually be forced air or still air. The forced air incubators have a built in fan and make it easier to control the humidity in the incubator. It is harder to control the air flow and maintain the humidity in a still air incubator.

There are many brands, shapes and sizes of chicken incubators to choose from. Be sure to check into the features of each incubator and find the one that will work the best for your situation. Just remember: temperature, humidity, air flow and turning and before you know it, you will have some happy little chicks.