That Quail Place Forum
Our Member's Section => Generally Asked Questions => Topic started by: backcountry on February 26, 2010, 09:20:38 PM
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i got a phone call the other day from a local teacher. she was wandering how many incubator i had and if i could sell her some for really cheap. the school like most around here have had major budget cuts and were not getting incubator for the kids. the ones i have are expensive to to get several. i see gqf makes a small one with a clear dome has anybody used them . i cant afford to spend alot but i want to try and help them i know the styro ones only $50 but when you need alot of them well and i did some checking around and alot of the schools cant afford to do eggs for the kids this year if i can come up with a idea to help them get the incubators i will donate all the eggs as well as feeders waters and what ever else
so does anybody know about the little ones?
thanks bc
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Years ago I used one of the clear dome chick bators by gqf. Surprisingly it worked very well. I believe that was the only incubator I ever had that ever got 100% hatch. I probably ran it through 100 or so hatches and never had a bad hatch but of coarse only 100% once.
About 15 years ago I used a little giant Styrofoam incubator. It was terrible. Maybe 5% hatch most of the time(if any at all). It had a fan but would still spike very high on temp. The element looked like one in a stove. Thankfully it only lasted through a few hatches.
About 10 years ago I went with a brower top hatch. It could not do better than 15-20%. It would spike to hot as well.
A few years back I bought a 12 volt electronic Styrofoam gqf hovabator. It performs as well as the sportsmans I have on percentage of hatched eggs. I got it for an emergency brooder if the power goes out. But more times than not it is full of eggs. I am not sure of the price but it is the best cheap incubator I have used. Most likely it would be to high for a tight budget.
Most likely the http://www.cutlersupply.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=195 would be the best for a classroom.
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Alot of people don't like these little incubators because of many factors but they do hatch. I used 20 of these two years ago for our local school Ecology Club and let the kids take them home to hatch quail eggs that I provided. Most of them hatched and some didn't and its clear as to why. The biggest downfall is that it takes constant supervision. The temperature is controlled by a piece of foil and a night light bulb. For the classrooms I use Hova-Bators with electronic control so you dont have to monitor the temperature. All in all if you have some trustworthy kids willing to give it attention then these do work. For someone who doesnt want to do anything but plug it in and check it every few days then this is a waste of time.
Larry