My search for an incubator

I’ve put so much thought about hatching eggs for a while now.  And I’ve been researching various incubator features (i.e. automated or non-automated, still air or with fan, with or without rotating trays).  And for ease and hopefully less stress, I’ve decided of course on the automated, with fan and with rotating trays.  But I can only afford the low-cost no name incubator manufactured in China.  

Now the next thing I had to decide was whether to buy it locally or directly from China through Ebay. If I bought it directly from China through Ebay, I will have to pay the import tax plus shipping costs.  And if it's defective, I can't possibly get my money back.  I decided to buy it in person yesterday from someone near us.  I found the seller through Kijiji and is located just about 20 km from us.  And if anything happens, he is guaranteeing it for one year.  So this cost me just extra $20 compared to the one from Ebay so I’m happy.  It's not a lot of price difference and I get to test the product before I took it home to make sure it actually powers on.  I also got a discount after I asked for it.  

Overall, it looks cheap but what the heck, I'm just testing my luck in hatching eggs.  I've put up with all my roosters for so long so now is the time to put them to use.

It looks like a big shoe box.  It has digital thermometer and hygrometer (for measuring humidity).

I removed the cover and these are the rotating trays.  It automatically rotates every 2 hours and can also be removed starting day 19 (3 days before expected hatching).

Underneath the yellow cover is the fan.  Everything is made of plastic which is fine for me as it will be easier to clean.

The motor for rotating the egg trays.  The wire is detachable and will be connected to the top cover where the main controls are located.

At the very bottom is the hatching tray.  On day 19, I'm supposed to remove the rotating trays in preparation for the chicks to hatch.

This is where the water is stored.  It is needed to maintain the desired humidity throughout incubation process.  It needs to be refilled as needed.

If I were to buy the branded one with similar features like Brinsea it will cost me around $700.  That’s more than 4 times the cost of the one made in China.  This is not going to be a profitable endeavor and I’m doing this mainly for fun and entertainment so it's more like a hobby.  I’m a bit concerned with my decision but I have to factor in my budget.  It would be nice to see life come out of the egg.  Wish me luck. I’m hoping this low-cost incubator will last more than a year.

And why do I want to hatch some chicks?  I know this is not a profitable venture but I’d like to do it just for fun and entertainment.  It’s really therapeutic to see baby chicks.  I’ve purchased our first set of chicks around end of March last year.  And it will be fascinating to actually incubate and hatch my own chicks from my own flock.  I might as well take advantage of my roosters now before I cull them.  Now is the time.  I will probably just do it once.  We’ll see.

I’ve been reading the book Hatching & Brodding Your Own Chicks by Gail Demerow and it’s very helpful for a first-timer like me.  I have to collect fertile eggs over the next 5 days.  I have 48-egg capacity incubator so I’m crossing my fingers, if the hens lay 10 a day I should be fine.  But there’s always small or cracked eggs which is not suitable for incubation.  So I hope within a week I can get started with incubation of eggs.  It’s too bad today, there were 2 eggs that broke due to my fault.  I temporarily put it on a ledge inside the coop while I was replacing the straws on the floor.  But somehow the hens managed to push it and it fell on to the floor.  What a waste.  It would have been perfect for incubation.  

There’s no way to identify fertile eggs so I hope most of the eggs I collect this week will be fertile (with that many roosters, I darn hope so).   Only after day 5 of incubation I will be able to find out which eggs are progressing just fine.  I’m excited.  This process is like a gamble.  I've read the reasonable hatching rate is 80 to 85%.  So out of the 48 eggs, I should expect 38 to 40 chicks.  If so, I may sell some and it will pay for the incubator itself :)  They sell for $5 a chick on Kijiji.  But then there's a saying not to count the chicks before they hatch, right?