Farm Innovators 41 Egg Digital Circulated Air Incubator w/Auto Turning & Humidity Control

Looks like some people had some problems. That wasn't the case for us. First off I don't fret over my eggs getting a little chill. My broody hens hop off their nests to eat and drink and get in some scratching and go back even when it is cold out and still have good hatches. I figure no biggie then if I have to open the incubator sometimes.I couldn't quite figure out how to set the temperature and found the instructions unhelpful, but it came programmed for a 21 day count down at 100 F so I just let it go. The other thermometer was reading 1 and 2 degrees cooler. I set 9 eggs to give it a test run. 1 egg was not fertile so I tossed it. I had 8 fertile eggs running now. I had 6 out of 8 hatch. Not bad. What was weird though was they hatched out over a 4 day period. Was about to throw out the last 3 on day 3 from the first hatched when I heard chirping coming from one so I put them back. About 24 hours later 1 hatched bringing the grand total to 6. I have had this happen with my hens too so not completely weird. When with my hens getting off the nest with babies I just throw a heat lamp on the eggs for a couple days so they can finish hatching.Temperatures stayed spot on. It is Spring so I am not running heaters most of them time, just throwing on sweaters when chilly and opening up the place when warm. We were having about a 25 - 30 degree swing in the house temperatures when I was running the unit. Temperatures stayed level in the incubator. One thing I learned years ago is just keep it in a shady spot where light doesn't get to it from a window. That seems to be the only thing that will throw my temps off.Turner worked fine. Someone else had an issue using an extension cord. Maybe it was their unit or their cord, I can't tell you. Mine did not have that problem though. I used an extension cord for my turner with no problem. I had the heating unit plugged into a wall though. Don't forget to pull your turner out and lay the eggs on their sides a couple days before hatch!Overall I am happy with it. It was practically plug and play. My first digital until and I loved that aspect of it over the knobs! Seemed I was always having to tinker with those.Give it a little water sometimes and adjust the plug on top to get humidity where you want it.I was really nervous the big window would lose heat but it did not. It was great having a clear view of all the happenings.Another big plus was the plastic shell around the styrofoam. My old ones did not have that and were damaged easily. I did not realize this unit had that so pleasant surprise.Only thing bad with this unit was the egg candler. Since I bought it without it advertised as included I am not going to knock it for that. But the only eggs it worked for were my white eggs. It did not work for my green ones at all.I was worried with so many poor reviews but it worked great for us. I hope it will work as well when we use it again. I will update if I have an issue with it. I do wish it had a longer warranty. The 30 days on it is why I immediately ran a test batch to check for problems. Now I have 6 chicks that are barnyard mix breeds that I don't really want but I will go ahead and keep the girls for layers this Summer and sell them this Winter. I wish I had more time so I could have separated my flock for purebreds. That alone is a 30 day waiting period. Plus if I could have waited to hatch it would be warm enough to brood outside instead of my bathroom :( I would say give it a try, and be ready to toss chicken eggs in as soon as you get it to catch issues other people have had so you can do something about it. Doubt if you'd have enough time for Duck or Goose eggs before warranty expires.UPDATE. Hatches geese. I used a zip tie looped to make a ring on the floor of the incubator and set eggs in so they wouldn't roll around. Goose eggs too large for turner. It is still working great for us and I would buy again. Warranty still stinks though if they haven't updated it.

Got one last year and it did amazing so I got another one this year and these machines do not disappoint! I have done chickens, turkeys, ducks and quail and have had success every time. The first run of the machine takes some time to get used to and if you have it in a drafty area or an area that is really cold the machine does struggle to keep warm and the humidity at the right level but once you find a good spot in your home you will find this is something you can’t live with out .

UPDATE: I have deducted my rating from 3 stars to 1. I have since had two hatched in these bators and will NEVER use them again. The chicks that did hatch were hatching sporadically due to uneven heating in the incubator. I keep these in a room with steady heat (vents from the AC closed also) and free of drafts and still, the heat fluctuations are insane. I have several cold spots and while one area in the incubator is 99.5-100, other spots are as low as 97 or as high as 102-103! How in the world is this even possible? If it isn’t cooking my eggs, it’s not heating them well enough. The chicks that I did have hatch had severe deformities due to uneven heating or hatched fine but varying dates when they were all due to hatch the same day. I had one due to hatch that didn’t hatch for 4 days and it’s severely deformed. For those who don’t know, I even beating causes chick deformation. I’ve lost so many eggs and chicks due to this problem and it’s beyond upsetting. This isn’t user error as my other 3 incubators (different brand) are hatching out chicks just fine with no deformities and ON TIME with no uneven heating. Please save yourself the heartache of having thrown money down the drain with this incubator, especially if you’re hatching expensive eggs. Go with a Brinsea, it’s well worth the money and you’ll be thankful you don’t have to cull deformed chicks.I bought 2 of these incubators and have a few others from differing brands. First off, it’s well made as far as the structure goes, but it doesn’t read the temperature very well. As with the other reviews, I too have had a problem with this incubator concerning the humidity and temperature readings. The readings are off 10+ percent on the humidity (deoending on the incubator) and 2+ on the temperature. I have one of them set at102.5 degrees and it’s reading 99.1-99.8 degrees. The humidity on this particular incubator is only 1 off. Now, the other incubator I have set on the sameThing but the temperature reading is off and I mean WAAAAY off. I have the second set at 106 degrees and it’s reading 94.1! I noticed it too late on this batch of eggs (made it to lock down but several died). I’m now frantically trying to raise the temperature before the rest die also. So far I’ve had one successful hatch from this round of eggs. one of my chicks that was alive minutes ago is now dead... I lost a few in an expensive set of eggs (high quality bloodline Ayam Cemani) That had all made it to lock down but died because the temperature is just too low. If I can ever get it to the right temperature and be able to maintain it, my opinion may change, but for right now, no matter how high I raise the temperature, it’s not going above 94-95 for one of my particular incubators.

I had 27 eggs that were fertile and 18 out of 27 hatched. 67% hatch rate seemed pretty good to me. Very user friendly, I'm a novice with incubators, but this I was able to literally plug in add some water and it worked perfectly. The only issues I had were at the very end when I had to clean it, beware, water may go everywhere if it's not perfectly balanced when trying to clean it. I think I might add a puppy pad to the bottom to help reduce the chance of spilling dirty chick poop water on the floor. Otherwise, this is awesome! Would've given it 5 stars, except for that 1 issue with the water spilling. If you're incubating in a shop or garage, it probably wouldn't be such an issue, but I spilled it in my house. Definitely recommend! Also, I followed their recommended percentages for the humidity, it dropped a few times, but I just added more water with a syringe when needed. So many different sites will tell you different things on the humidity, but I kept mine at the 50-60% range and then upped it to the 65-75% and had a great hatch.

It’s one of my favorite incubators and it’s easy to operate and it’s quiet . Its functions as it should and pretty sturdy for repeated uses. Great for homesteading!! This is my second incubator of this kind and model and will probably buy more in the future