- Joined
- May 27, 2012
- Messages
- 5,192
- Location
- Bellmere, QLD
- Website
- www.selfsufficientme.com
- Climate
- Sub-Tropical
Yesterday, my new and latest no name no brand cheap Chinese egg incubator arrived in the post!
This incubator is different to my other failed Jn8-48 as it's much smaller for a start, has a different auto egg turning mechanism using rolling tubes instead of oscillating egg holders and has an easy open top lid rather than the top and bottom half design.
I had said over the past several months since my Jn8-48 died that I would save my money and buy a top brand incubator such as the Brinsea Octagon with auto humidity but after mulling over the cost and knowing I was up for $750 (before postage) I decided to give another budget incubator one more chance...
This incubator simply called "Automatic Incubator" was only $88 and I got it on eBay here (model number JN 448) and the reason I chose this one was because of the design. Most cheap incubators (even the made in USA ones) are built in two halves meaning the top half is also the lid and in my opinion this is a big design flaw because whenever you have to gain access to the inside it means basically removing or lifting the top half and in turn letting out all the warm air! Whereas this incubator has a small see through lid on the top which can be raised - this is so much better.
Also, cheap incubators are mainly cheap because of the outer materials the container is made of which is usually thin plastic. Expensive incubators are made from thick materials and have double glazed glass viewing windows etc. Therefore, cheap incubators need to be insulated manually to assist its heating element to maintain a constant stable temperature. This is usually done by placing the incubator into an insulated box or wrapping it in a doona or whatever especially if the incubator is kept in a room that has fluctuating temperatures. If no extra insulation is provided for the incubator its heating and fan will burn out quickly because they have to work too hard to maintain the perfect conditions required to incubate eggs.
In most other cheap incubators removing the top half means removing the extra insulation and that's a pain but with this incubator it can remain all snug and wrapped up when inspecting eggs, retrieving chicks, or making other adjustments.
Interestingly, I noticed this incubator actually came with clear instructions recommending to use the packaging foam and cardboard box it came with as extra insulation for operating it. And this is exactly what I am doing, although I have added more insulation to the box and made some adjustments.
The incubator (as with most) has a water reservoir to create humidity (needed for successful incubation and hatching) but the reservoir is accessed and filled from the front of the unit so that would mean the whole incubator would need to be removed from the box each time the water reservoir was checked or re-filled. To solve this I simply cut a hole in the front of the box and through the insulation packaging so the reservoir can be accessed easily.
Overall the controls are very basic and easy to set with a temp reading setting, egg turning intervals, hatching countdown, too high temp alarm, etc and you can manually activate the egg turner tubes to rotate the eggs if you wish.
The egg turning mechanism is "different" and works by turning four tubes at set intervals for between 1 - 12 seconds depending on the egg sizes. The tubes turn and this action rolls the eggs 180 degrees. So far, it seems to be working well and it even works when the eggs are stacked.
I've run the incubator for 24 hours and calibrated the temp and it seems to be holding steady. Today, my quail eggs arrived in the post (I'm introducing new bloodlines into my flock so purchased some quail eggs online) and this afternoon I placed them into the incubator (all 44 eggs).
At the end of the day the proof will be in the hatching... I'll keep this thread updated plus post more pics soon and we'll see if this batch of quail eggs turns into a bunch of chicks or a disaster.
This incubator is different to my other failed Jn8-48 as it's much smaller for a start, has a different auto egg turning mechanism using rolling tubes instead of oscillating egg holders and has an easy open top lid rather than the top and bottom half design.
I had said over the past several months since my Jn8-48 died that I would save my money and buy a top brand incubator such as the Brinsea Octagon with auto humidity but after mulling over the cost and knowing I was up for $750 (before postage) I decided to give another budget incubator one more chance...
This incubator simply called "Automatic Incubator" was only $88 and I got it on eBay here (model number JN 448) and the reason I chose this one was because of the design. Most cheap incubators (even the made in USA ones) are built in two halves meaning the top half is also the lid and in my opinion this is a big design flaw because whenever you have to gain access to the inside it means basically removing or lifting the top half and in turn letting out all the warm air! Whereas this incubator has a small see through lid on the top which can be raised - this is so much better.
Also, cheap incubators are mainly cheap because of the outer materials the container is made of which is usually thin plastic. Expensive incubators are made from thick materials and have double glazed glass viewing windows etc. Therefore, cheap incubators need to be insulated manually to assist its heating element to maintain a constant stable temperature. This is usually done by placing the incubator into an insulated box or wrapping it in a doona or whatever especially if the incubator is kept in a room that has fluctuating temperatures. If no extra insulation is provided for the incubator its heating and fan will burn out quickly because they have to work too hard to maintain the perfect conditions required to incubate eggs.
In most other cheap incubators removing the top half means removing the extra insulation and that's a pain but with this incubator it can remain all snug and wrapped up when inspecting eggs, retrieving chicks, or making other adjustments.
Interestingly, I noticed this incubator actually came with clear instructions recommending to use the packaging foam and cardboard box it came with as extra insulation for operating it. And this is exactly what I am doing, although I have added more insulation to the box and made some adjustments.
The incubator (as with most) has a water reservoir to create humidity (needed for successful incubation and hatching) but the reservoir is accessed and filled from the front of the unit so that would mean the whole incubator would need to be removed from the box each time the water reservoir was checked or re-filled. To solve this I simply cut a hole in the front of the box and through the insulation packaging so the reservoir can be accessed easily.
Overall the controls are very basic and easy to set with a temp reading setting, egg turning intervals, hatching countdown, too high temp alarm, etc and you can manually activate the egg turner tubes to rotate the eggs if you wish.
The egg turning mechanism is "different" and works by turning four tubes at set intervals for between 1 - 12 seconds depending on the egg sizes. The tubes turn and this action rolls the eggs 180 degrees. So far, it seems to be working well and it even works when the eggs are stacked.
I've run the incubator for 24 hours and calibrated the temp and it seems to be holding steady. Today, my quail eggs arrived in the post (I'm introducing new bloodlines into my flock so purchased some quail eggs online) and this afternoon I placed them into the incubator (all 44 eggs).
At the end of the day the proof will be in the hatching... I'll keep this thread updated plus post more pics soon and we'll see if this batch of quail eggs turns into a bunch of chicks or a disaster.
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) as I am considering purchasing one to use for our chook and duck eggs but don't want to buy it if it doesn't last long enough to make it worth the 150$ it costs to buy and ship it here. The reason we are leaning towards this model is because of your positive rants about its performance and because it is so power efficient only using 30 watts! (Parents aren't to keen on super expensive power bills)
. I don't mind the idea of extra insulation like you did in your video and I think we might order one this afternoon 
