A Complete Guide To Incubators: A Greenhouse for Chicks

In modern poultry farming, incubators play a crucial role. They simulate the natural incubation environment, providing stable and suitable conditions for chick embryo development, significantly improving hatching efficiency and success rates. From small-scale individual operations to large-scale industrial production, the demands of different farming scales have spawned a variety of small, medium, large, and industrial-grade chicken incubators.

1. Small incubators are typically suitable for home farming or small-scale incubation research. They are compact, easy to operate, and relatively affordable.

1.1 For example, some miniature incubators with rice cooker structures offer excellent thermal insulation, long temperature-maintaining times, and low power consumption. They are often equipped with high-precision digital intelligent microcomputer temperature control boards with an accuracy of ±0.1°C, accurately maintaining the temperature between 36.00°C and 39.99°C, the ideal temperature for chick embryo development. They also feature high and low temperature alarms to ensure a safe incubation environment.

1.2 Regarding humidity control, by adding an appropriate amount of warm water to the incubator and utilizing natural evaporation, the humidity can be maintained at 60-70% RH. Some small incubators also come with round plastic hatching and hatching trays, enabling simultaneous hatching and hatching. However, these incubators have limited capacity, typically holding between dozens and hundreds of eggs.

2. Medium-sized incubators have further improved performance and capacity, making them suitable for medium-sized farms. They often feature a pre-painted steel exterior with an internal egg rack structure for easy operation and management.

2.1 Temperature and humidity control, as well as egg turning, are more intelligent and automated. For example, a medium-sized fully automatic incubator can hold up to 2,112 eggs, operates on 220V/50Hz, has a temperature control accuracy of ≤±0.1°C, and utilizes 400W of electric heating power.

2.2 Medium-sized incubators typically feature automatic humidity control systems, allowing precise adjustment of humidity requirements according to the different stages of incubation. Humidity is generally maintained at 60-65% in the early stages, 50-55% in the middle stages, and then increased to 65-70% during the final stages of hatching. Automatic egg turning is also common, ensuring even heating of the embryos and preventing adhesion to the shell membranes. Eggs are generally turned every 1-2 hours at an angle of 45°.

3. Large-scale incubators and industrial-grade incubators are the core equipment of large-scale chicken farms and hatcheries. They have enormous capacities and can incubate tens of thousands of eggs at a time. For example, the largest incubator with a nesting machine can hold 115,200 eggs, while the largest incubator can hold 38,400 eggs.

3.1 These incubators feature fully controlled digital touchscreens for easy and intuitive operation. Standard spiral cooling coils ensure stable and uniform temperature control and powerful cooling capacity, ensuring uniform temperature within the incubator and minimal temperature variations.

3.2 Large-scale and industrial-grade incubators are well-designed with ventilation systems that continuously supply fresh air, promptly remove carbon dioxide and excess heat, and ensure an adequate oxygen supply for developing embryos. The carbon dioxide concentration within the incubator does not exceed 0.4%.

3.3 In addition, they can be equipped with a variety of advanced features, such as CO2 diversion, Tegg-save for energy saving, Teggnologic27 for "dry incubation," and ultimate incubation management software via a central PC, facilitating precise control and data management in large-scale production.

4. Regarding accessories, egg trays and hatcher frames are essential components of an incubator.

4.1 Egg trays are used to hold hatching eggs. Their design must conform to the shape and size of the eggs, ensuring stability during incubation and easy turning. Different types of incubators are suitable for egg trays of different sizes. For example, fixed rack incubators use standard egg trays of specific sizes, while cart-mounted incubators are equipped with specialized egg traysthat match the cart.

4.2 Hatcher frames are primarily used during the hatching stage, providing a safe and comfortable space for chicks. Hatcher frames are typically made of non-toxic, harmless materials that are easy to clean and disinfect to prevent chicks from contracting diseases.

5. A hatcher-brooder integrates the functions of both hatching and brooding into a single device, significantly improving breeding efficiency and reducing equipment footprint.

5.1 During the hatching stage, it precisely controls temperature, humidity, and ventilation to create optimal conditions for chicks to hatch. Once the chicks have hatched, the machine quickly switches to brooding mode, adjusting environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, and light according to the chicks' growth needs, providing a suitable environment for the chicks and promoting their healthy growth.