Incubator: Automatic Egg Incubators for South African Farms

What an incubator does

An incubator replaces the broody hen. For a chicken egg that means three jobs for 21 days: hold the temperature at about 37.5 °C, keep humidity in the right band, and turn the eggs several times a day so the embryo doesn't stick to the shell. Miss one of them and the hatch rate drops.

Every IncubatorPro incubator does all three automatically: a digital controller holds temperature and humidity, a motor tilts the egg trays on a timer, and a fan spreads the heat evenly so eggs at the back hatch as well as eggs at the front. Want the full explanation? Read how an incubator works or the incubator meaning.

Which incubator size do you need?

• 360 or 720 eggs: backyard breeders and small farms hatching for their own flock or selling a few hundred chicks a month. Small incubators.
• 1,056 to 2,900 eggs: growing farms selling day-old chicks every three weeks. See the 1000-egg incubator.
• 5,280 to 20,000 eggs: commercial farms and hatcheries. Commercial incubators.

A chicken batch takes 21 days, so a 1,056-egg incubator sets about 1,500 eggs a month: roughly 1,200 to 1,300 chicks at an 80–85% hatch rate. Work out your own number with the incubator size guide or the hatchery profit calculator.

One incubator for every kind of egg

The same incubator hatches chicken, duck, quail, guinea fowl and turkey eggs. You change the settings and incubation time, not the machine:

• Chicken: 21 days. Chicken incubators
• Quail: about 17–18 days. Quail incubator
• Duck: about 28 days (Muscovy about 35). Duck egg incubator
• Guinea fowl and turkey: about 26–28 days. Guinea fowl and turkey incubator

Exact temperatures and humidity for each are in the incubator temperature and humidity chart.

What to look for when you buy an incubator

• Automatic turning. Hand-turning three to five times a day for three weeks is where most home hatches fail.
• Digital temperature and humidity control with a display you can read without opening the door.
• Forced air (a fan) so every tray gets the same temperature. Forced air vs still air.
• A local warranty and support you can actually reach. Ours is 2 years, with help by phone and WhatsApp.
• A plan for load shedding. Read hatching during load shedding and check the electricity use of the size you choose.

Comparing options? See the best incubator in South Africa guide and the full incubator price list.

Ordering an incubator from IncubatorPro

Pick a model above and press Buy, or WhatsApp us on 061 438 3411. You can pay cash on delivery or by EFT, we deliver across South Africa, and every incubator comes with setup help so your first batch goes in correctly. Details: how to order · warranty · customer reviews.