Finding the right chicken egg incubator to hatch your baby chicks is super important. High hatch rates are crucial. Especially if you are spending hard-earned money on eggs from a hatchery to hatch specialty breeds, show birds, or starter breeds for your own breeding experimentation.
If you want the best chance of having a 100% hatch rate, then you not only want an incubator for chicken eggs that brags about its bells and whistles but shows results time and time again.
If you love backyard chicken raising as I do and are not looking to build a commercial hatchery, then a reasonably priced and easy-to-use incubator is the ticket.
The Brinsea Products USAF37C Ovation 28 EX, fully automatic egg incubator with humidity control in Yellow and Black, could be just what you are looking for.
Brinsea Products USAF37C Ovation 28 EX
Features
The Brinsea Ovation 28 comes in yellow and black. The base is yellow, and the cover is clear, giving an immense sight window so you won’t miss a thing going on inside the incubator.
You will not only hear the quiet peeps of the soon-to-emerge chicks, but you will also be able to see clearly the almost imperceptible wiggle of the eggs as the chick prepares to spring forth into the world.
The capacity of this Brinsea is 28 standard chicken eggs.
Fully automatic humidity control allows you to ensure that the humidity is set correctly during the first eighteen days of incubation and the crucial final three days when the humidity needs to be raised to ensure a smooth escape from the shell.
Weighing in at 4.06 pounds, the Brinsea Ovation 28 EX is light enough for a child to carry.
Dimensions are 12 inches deep x 17 inches wide x 9 inches high. Perfect for a small table or desk.
Components included with the incubator are a power cord, hatching mat, egg carriers, humidity block, and tubing. The hatching mat makes cleaning easier and helps prevent splayed legs by enabling chicks to grip the floor surface better after they hatch.
The price is midlevel at somewhere around $400.00. I don’t want to give a hard number because things change so fast these days.
Let’s talk about trust.
Trustpilot is a review platform that’s open to everyone. Anyone is allowed to share their experiences to help others make better choices and encourage companies to up their game. If you click on the link you just saw, it will take you to the Brinsea reviews at Truspilot. If you don’t want to go to Trustpilot, here is what some had to say about Brinsea…
Christine wrote, “We have two incubators a max11 advanced and an ovation advanced . Absolutely thrilled yesterday to get a100% hatch of Grey silkies from the max11. Now what I need to know is are there any video to show us how to give both incubators a deep clean, easy to do the inside bits it’s getting rid of the fluff that collects in the lid that you can’t get too.”
Canada Goose Wrote, “I cannot praise Brinsea high enough. Their products are well designed and well built and the ladies in the office (namely Juliette and Emily) sort out any problems, going above and beyond. During recent lockdown, they arranged for the collection and return of my five year old incubator which had developed a problem from my home at just cost price. It was duly put right and returned in about a week in total. Brinsea is a big company but with the heart and soul of a family business.”
So, as you can see, Brinsea is held in high esteem in the world of incubation.
What Are Some Problems People Had?
Natalie said in an Amazon review that the plug from the incubator was too small. Let’s take a look.
“The power supply cord doesn’t actually plug in. It just kind of sits in the hole. The SLIGHTEST thing will unplug it from the incubator, shutting down the entire thing obviously. So you lose heat, stop auto turning… And obviously without power it stops doing what it was purchased for… INCUBATING. If, by some magical force, you make it to hatch day without any power shut downs, you will have a phenomenal hatch rate. It’s extremely accurate and I’ve been very successful BUT the stress of making sure it stays plugged in and nobody so much as breathes it’s way is too much work for how much you pay for this unit. Extremely disappointed in this.”
I would look to the outlet to fix this problem instead of the power cord. Old outlets do wear out.
This one is more worrisome…
J said, “Of all the incubators I’ve used, I’ve had more deformed chickens hatch and eggs not complete incubation from this one than all the others combined. This is also the only automated one that I’ve used. I suspect its related to the rocking angle not being sufficiently large enough since rotation frequency doesn’t seem to matter and doing side-by-side hatches with my other incubators and its definitely incubator specific.”
Now, to be fair, 74 out of 96 reviews at Amazon were 5-star reviews. All-in-all this incubator got 4 and a half stars out of five, so it’s fair to say that the vast majority had a great experience with this model.
My Take on Brinsea Products USAF37C Ovation 28 EX
I give this incubator a 9 out of a possible 10 for many reasons.
- It’s automatic. There is no manual turning of eggs three times a day, no checking a hygrometer or thermometer to make sure the environment is conducive to hatching.
- All of the components pop out for quick and easy cleaning.
- The price is very right for the quality of the product.
- Brinsea has been in business for almost 50 years. Quality is what allows companies to survive that long. Customer service is excellent.
- The incubator is reliable.
- The reviews are very good to great.
- Trustpilot shows Brinsea a lot of love.
Where Can I Get a Brinsea?
You can get a Brinsea Products USAF37C Ovation 28 EX and other models at Amazon or My Pet Chicken.
===> Buy a Brinsea Ovation 28 EX at My Pet Chicken <===
===> Buy a Brinsea Ovation 28 EX at Amazon <===
There are many, many, many sizes, types, and configurations of incubators on the market today. Brinsea is one of the most trusted names in home incubation. You can be sure you have gotten the best when you get one.
Dave
Chickenmethod.com