Skip to Content

Buying Vs Building your Own Egg Incubator – Which is the Best

Those that are into poultry farming know the importance of incubator especially those that are involved in hatching their own chick or hatching for commercial purposes. Incubator plays a major role in the poultry industry and that is why every poultry farmer needs to take their time to make a decision on the most appropriate egg incubator to use in their poultry.

An egg incubator is designed in such a way that it can be operated in the most suitable temperature and humidity needed to hatch eggs; it is conditioned in such a way that it can hatch chicken eggs within 21 days than a normal chicken can take to hatch as well. The good thing about egg incubator is that it can hatch very large numbers of eggs at the same time and the chicks would look pretty healthier when compared to the ones hatched by a hen in natural condition.

Egg incubators are known to be safer when it comes to hatching eggs and it can hatch the eggs of different kind of birds at the same time in a controlled environment that is free from any threat – it is basically an artificial way of hatching eggs.

Buying Vs Building your Own Egg Incubator – Which is the Best?

So, if you are a poultry farmer and you are looking towards acquiring your own incubator, the size and design of the incubator you need would determine whether it will be ideal and economical to buy your own incubator or pay someone to help you build a customized incubator based on your own specification. Now let us quickly go through the advantage and disadvantage of buying your own egg incubator;

The Advantages of Buying an Egg Incubator

a. It is cheaper

The truth is that mass produced products are always cheaper when compared to customized products. So buying your own egg incubator from the market means that you will have the option of different brand that comes with different prices. So it is left to you to purchase the one that fits your budget.

b. You Can Choose a Flexible Payment Option-: Another advantage of buying your own egg incubator is that you can decide to choose a flexible payment options that will fit into your business plan, plus the fact that once you make your payment, you can get it delivered to your as soon as possible.

The Disadvantage of Buying Your Own Egg Incubator

One major disadvantage of buying your own egg incubator is that you might be restricted to the design and size of the incubator that is available in the market. For example; if your poultry has the capacity to hatch over a 1000 chicks per time and you can only find an incubator that has the capacity to hatch only 500 chicks per time, then you just have to adjust your plans to fit into what you can get from the market.

Another disadvantage of buying an egg incubator is that even if the incubator available in the market does not fit into your poultry design, you would need to redesign your poultry to accommodate the incubator available in the market. Now let us consider some of the advantage of building your own egg incubator;

Advantages of Building Your Own Egg Incubator

i. No Limit to the Capacity of Eggs You Can Hatch Per Time

One major advantage of building your own egg incubator is that you can build it to accommodate the numbers of eggs you want to hatch per time. For example; if the available egg incubator in the market only has the capacity to hatch 500 eggs per time and you want an egg incubator that can hatch 1000 and above per time, you can build your own egg incubator to accommodate 1000 eggs or more per time.

ii. You Can Customize Your Egg Incubator to Your Own Design-: Another advantage of building your own egg incubator is that you can customize it in such a way that it can fit into the overall design of your poultry.

The Disadvantages of Building Your Own Egg Incubator

A. It is Expensive

Building your own egg incubator to fit into your own design and specification can be expensive when compared to buying a mass produced incubator. You would have to pay more because you want those building the incubator to build it based on your own terms and condition.

B. It Takes Time

Unlike buying an egg incubator from the market where you get it delivered to you on the same day that you made payment; you would have to wait for your customized egg incubator to be delivered to you after you must have made payment. So, in essence, if you need an egg incubator urgently, then building one won’t be the best option for you because it will take time before it can be produced and delivered to you.

Finally, the choice you make when it comes to acquiring an egg incubator for your poultry is solely dependent on the numbers of eggs you want to hatch per time, the design of your poultry, and your budget, amongst others.

10 Factors to Consider When Buying an Egg Incubator

If you intend starting your own chicken / bird hatchery, then you should consider some key factors before making your choice of egg incubator to buy. The truth is that making the right business choice is a skill that can be learnt. If you make the right business choice, you stand the chance of maximizing profits in your line of business.

So also, if you want to maximize profits in your poultry farm business especially if you want to also go into commercial sale of chicks, then you should ensure that you make the right choice before buying your egg incubator. Of course there are various sizes and designs of egg incubators, and if you don’t know exactly what you want, then you might make the wrong buying decision and that might result in your hatchery under performing.

The fact that you have the option of out rightly buying your own egg incubator of building it from the scratch makes it easier for you to consider some important factors before making your purchase. Now let us quickly go through the 10 factors to consider when buying an egg incubator for your poultry farm business:

a. The Capacity of the Egg Incubator

The capacity of the egg incubator should be a major factor that you need to consider when making plans to buy an egg incubator. What is the use of having an incubator in your poultry farm that can only hatch less than half of the eggs you want to hatch per time?

If you know your poultry farm has the capacity to churn out 500 day old chicks per time, then you should go for an egg incubator that has the capacity to hatch 500 eggs per time. The numbers of eggs you intend hatching per time should influence your choice of incubator.

b. The Power Requirement of the Egg Incubator

Every business person ensures that they look for ways to cut down on their operational cost and one of the ways of cutting operational cost in your poultry farm business is to cut down the power consumption of your poultry farm to the barest minimum. So it will be to your advantage to consider the power output of all the egg incubators available in the market and choose the one that has lower power consumption rate.

c. The Cost of Available Egg Incubators and Your Budget

The cost of available egg incubators in the market and your budget is another factor you need to put in place when shopping for egg incubator for your poultry farm. There is no point making use of the money meant for other stuffs in your poultry to purchase an egg incubator; your budget should be strictly followed if you intend to grow big as an entrepreneur.

d. The Effectiveness and Success Rate of the Egg Incubator

Of course some egg incubator performs far better than others and that is the reason why you must consider the effectiveness and success rate of the available egg incubator before buying one. No doubt some egg incubators might not hatch all the eggs placed in it, but some can guarantee you well over 90 percent success rate. So the success rate of the egg incubator must be considered when shopping for egg incubator to buy.

e. The Mode of Operation

The mode of operation of the egg incubator is another important factor to consider when buying your own egg incubator. The truth is that it will pay you to buy an egg incubator that can easily be operated by your employees with little or no training. So ensure that you consider an egg incubator that is user friendly when shopping for egg incubator for your poultry farm.

f. The Varieties of Eggs the Egg Incubator can Hatch Per Time

Another factor that you need to consider before buying an egg incubator is the varieties of eggs that the incubator can hatch per time. There are some egg incubators that are designed to hatch the eggs of various species of birds at the same time. So if you run a poultry that has various species of birds, then you should consider buying an egg incubator that has the capacity to hatch eggs from different birds per time,

g. The Guarantee You Stand to Get

The guarantee you stand to get from the manufacturer of the egg incubator you intend buying should be a factor to consider when shopping for an egg incubator to buy. Just ensure that you buy an egg incubator that comes with at least a minimum of 12 months guarantee.

h. The Maintenance Requirement of the Egg Incubator

The maintenance requirement of the egg incubator should be another major factor that you need to consider before buying your own egg incubator for your poultry farm. The truth is that there are some egg incubators that will cost you more to maintain. So it will pay you to buy an egg incubator that is cheaper and easier to maintain.

i. The Design Style of the Egg Incubator

The design and style of the egg incubator is yet another factor that you need to consider before buying your own egg incubator for your poultry farm. It is important to buy an egg incubator that rightly fit into the overall plan and design of your poultry farm. So the design of your poultry farm should influence your choice of egg incubator.

j. The Size of Your Poultry Farm

The size of your poultry farm is another factor that you should consider before buying an egg incubator. If you operate a small poultry farm, then there won’t be any need buying a big egg incubator because you might not have enough space to contain the egg incubator.

There you have it; the 10 factors to consider when buying an egg incubator for your poultry farm.