Farm Innovators Model 4200 Circulated Air Incubator with Automatic Egg Turner

So far this incubator is doing exactly what it should be - we candled eggs on day 8 (son and husband couldn't wait until day 10), and eggs are developing as expected. We have 2 - 3 eggs out of 24 that are questionable, but it is early, and they simply may not be fertile as we got 12 eggs locally from a friend. Sometimes the rooster doesn't get them all - they sure try though! Please follow the directions - set up incubator 2 days prior to setting your eggs and you will have temperature regulated. I have not had any issues with temperature since finding the 99.5 mark and leaving it alone. I have not purchased extra thermometer for humidity, we live near Mississippi River in Illinois, we have plenty of humidity. I have watched this on the machine and only added a little water once after initial set up. I did take out the bottom plug after adding that water as the humidity shot way up, after about 2 - 3 hours it had settled down and I put the plug back in. The other 12 eggs we got from very nice lady across the river who breeds/raises Silkies and Chochins. All are developing. She told us she has this exact same incubator and it has worked like a charm. No failures or problems. This model from Amazon does not come with a candler - Farm Innovators Website seems to show it should be included, but I still paid less on Amazon than this same incubator at the Farm & Home Store. After reading the instructions, I wondered about the plugs and the fan. You leave them in, except in the instance above when I needed to lower humidity and of course once the chicks are piping. I did call Farm Innovators and they were very helpful - if you have any questions about your incubator, I would suggest you call them.

I reviewed MANY different models before purchasing an incubator. Cost and user reviews played significant roles in which on we choose. Also of note, we dont have a lot of chickens, about a dozen, but it seemed cost effective to buy this product over smaller models (Brinsea mini or similar). The two primary complaints we found while reviewing products was getting a unit to hold its temp. and getting a unit that displayed the temp. accurately. To me, getting a unit that holds the temp. accurately was more important than one displaying the temp wrongly because I can replace a thermometer much easier (and cheaper) than replacing a heating unit. That being said, this unit does not need an additional thermometer - it comes with two. The primary thermometer/humidity gauge is labelled "For Reference Only" and mine was not accurate. In fact the thermometer is WAY off - about 10 degrees. Its a cheap piece likely used for the humidity gauge instead of temp. and can be easily removed/replaced if you wanted (I found using a cheap cooking thermometer works just fine, stick it through the styrofoam next to the original temp. gauge). The unit does come with an additional thermometer, which works just fine. Farm Innovators suggests placing it on top of the eggs. This works/reads accurately. As far as setting the temperature - follow the directions. They suggest running the unit for 6-8hrs before trying to incubate. Plan on randomly checking the temp (every 30 minutes to an hour) during that time until you have reached and are holding the proper temp. ****Bonus: I dont recall reading this in the product description or details, but I received a candling light with the product. I took off 1 star because the "reference" thermometer shouldnt even be used for reference. While it does take a while to fine tune the temp, things seem to be working fine (and I imagine most units take some fine tuning). In a few weeks we ought to have our first hatch.

This really does a great job. It is easy to use and we have had no problems at all. Use common sense and don't expect to jump in and get it right the very first time. When you start you will not get 100% hatched eggs, you could get a very low hatch rate until you experiment and learn how it works exactly. Read up on tips to hatch eggs first and then have fun. I suggest you turn your eggs by hand at leats 3 times daily, and make sure your humidity is up the entire time, if it gets dry they will not hatch. The first hatch we did started with around 30 eggs and ended with 6 chicks, we tried turn more and more humidity and each time our count increased. This last hatch we started with 20 eggs and had 19 chicks hatch. So we have learned the machne and the tricks it takes. Also do NOT use the temperature on the lid it is NOT even a reference. Use the internal thermometer laying on the eggs and keep it exactly at 99.5 hope this helps a little.

Im updating my review. When this incubator arrived and was set up I was thrilled. After loosing he entire first hatch from 2 of these, Im no longer as thrilled as I was. I paid allot fo money for shipped eggs from a very good breeder and lost everything. Why? Because the settings jumped on me. When I first set it up I doubled checked the temps with one of my own thermometers, it read correctly. As the eggs developed everything seemed fine, and then.. they all died. Every last egg, 80+ gone. Why? The temp jumped from 100 to 105 and killed them. I have since put 3 of my thermometers in one of the incubators, they have all read 99 for about 2 weeks, so I re-ordered hundreds of dollars in eggs. This better work. Im not happy. However.. I did give it 3 stars.. why? It is not styraphome, the design is much better then the old hoovabators, it does read humidity levels although again.. not correctly, its a bit under what it really is. I had it raining in there, almost drownding the duck eggs and it read 60% Once you do let it run for 30 days, correct the temps, it does seem to hold. However that means you loose about 60 days hatching time when you first order it. order in the winter when you are not pressed for hatches, check and triple check it and eventually it will be very nice. Allot of work really for something you should not have to work at, at all.

I almost believed the bad reviews and bought another brand...glad I didn't. Having spent a career as a electromechanical technician I can assure you that nothing is idiot proof (those guys can get pretty clever in screwing things up). When first preparing this to run a batch of quail eggs I had to install the quail rails on the automatic egg turner. With room for 120 eggs, about 80 more than I would ever use so I thought I would just install 2 rails and be able to turn eggs and put eggs about ready to hatch on the wire to hatch thereby being able to have a perpetual run going. The problem here was that the egg turner doesn't run smoothly unless all rails are in place (could be the reason for noisy egg turner motor and burnt out motor). So I abandoned that idea put them all in. I agree that you should get an outdoor digital thermometer/hygrometer. $10 at the hardware store. The directions say to calibrate the probe thermometer...don't do this until it has settled in for a few hour after the delivery. I adjusted mine only to have to readjust it back to its original position, but if you get a digital one you really don't need this one. By the way, both thermometers are right on but the hygrometer is off. After adding water it was time to adjust the temperature and humidity. Piece of cake...Adjust temperature as stated in the directions with one exception, turn the knob fully to the right and monitor the temperature until it hits the temperature you want then turn the knob counter-clockwise until the indicator lamp just goes off and don't mess with it any more. To adjust humidity pull one or both red plugs out to get the humidity as close as possible under the wanted humidity then turn on (or both) red plugs upside down and partially cover the hole(s). I got the temperature adjusted within 5 minutes and the humidity with 20 minutes. The directions (and many bad reviews) say to let the incubator run or settle in for 6 hours up to several days. After not seeing any change in temperature or humidity for 2 hours I decided to run my eggs early. Out of 29 eggs I got 20 quail. Of the 9 unhatched eggs 1 had a crack I hadn't noticed, 1 was breech (if that's the right term for chick coming out the small end), 4 were unfertilized and 3 looked fully developed but didn't hatch (probably the ones I put in a day and a half late. Not bad hatch rate of about 69% for a first time incubation with eggs being stored in the fridge in a bowl. I'm starting my second batch right now with eggs stored with the small ends down this time as is suggested.

I just received this unit in the mail. Not sure if I trust expensive shipped eggs or any eggs in this incubator far that matter. Why, you ask? The pdf file you can download here on the website says " ....4200 are guaranteed for 60 days,...." yet the one I received in the mail says the warranty is for a puny 30 days. Why the downgrade? Clearly they used to have it last for 60 days. It takes 21 days to hatch chicks so by the time you let it air out (it is very stinky), let it run a few day to make sure it is stable then set the eggs your warranty is up. Farm Innovators essentially has decided to guarantee this incubator for a single hatch only and do not think the incubator will last for a second, or they would have left the warranty at 60 days. Says volumes about the reliability. The thermostat chip is exposed on the underside of the top of lid in a plastic mesh cradle. The directions say not to get it wet. You are going to have humidity spikes up to 90% with condensation on the top of the interior when chicks hatch. What are the odds that an open-air circuit board will survive more than one or two hatches? Hence the downgrade to 30 day warranty, no doubt. Last tidbit? This puppy is made in China. I couldn't see that anywhere in the description. The pdf says:"Farm Innovators, Incorporated has carefully inspected, tested, and packaged this unit to insure safe and reliable operation". I expected an American made product seeing as how they claim to have carefully inspected it and they list their address as Plymouth, IN. I will attempt to return this unit because it is not as described. Buyer beware. **Update**I contacted Amazon via live chat last night at 10 pm and they emailed me a return label. He apologized for the mis-information on the website and will forward to tech support. This incubator is already in the hands of UPS easy-peasy and no charge for me. Incidentally, I ordered a Brinsea Octagon Eco 20 and after I placed it the order said it could arrive as late as 8 days from now--on 3-5 day shipping. Worried, I asked Amazon and customer service emailed the seller and I received a call from the seller directly (Avian Web) and she said it would go out this afternoon. Order placed 10pm, vendor called 10 am, shipping confirmation 2 hours later. Excellent customer service on the part of Avian Web and Amazon. I tried to contact Farm Innovators Directly and did not receive any reply. So there you go-the good and the bad ends of the spectrum on customer service.

This is the BEST incubator for the money !! Ive tried the Segway and other cheapos and they were horrible ! This incubator will hold temps and humidity with no issues and the egg turner works way better than the yellow thin plastic ones. Its turns all the way to both sides, no matter what size eggs. I used a additional temp probe to calibrate and haven't had to touch it since. Not a brinsea but I think works just as well and made in America !!! LOVE IT, will buy another asap !! Very easy to clean and has viewing windows on top, what more can you ask for in a incubator under $150 !! It will hatch any size chicken eggs but don't think goose or duck eggs will fit in the turner. Cleans very easily with Styrofoam inside and a plastic shell on the outside.

I ordered this incubator to hatch some chicks as a hobby. Last year I tried hatching for the first time with a similar incubator of a different brand but for a handful of reasons it didn't go so well. This year I learned from my mistakes and I'm hoping for a better hatch rate. Like I said, I'm just doing this for kicks but if you are really serious about a high hatch rate you probably want to go with a more advanced incubator. PROS: I really like that this model is a combo with the fan and turner instead of having to buy everything separately. I also like that the styrofoam has a plastic covering to protect and possibly make more efficient. With PATIENCE and careful tweaking you CAN get this machine to hold a fairly constant temp (fluctuates about 2 degrees at most). CONS: Fan and turner are loud and vibrate. The built in thermometer and hygrometer are basically useless INVEST IN A GOOD ALTERNATE METER! The built in therm is off by about 5 degrees and the hygro is off by about 20%. The water wells are hard to see and hard to fill - I've gotten it wrong a couple times and it leaks all over the place. Conclusion --> This is not a plug in and forget machine. Take the time to get the machine up to temp and then monitor for at least 24hrs before putting eggs in. If you change the temp, just twist knob a tiny hair at a time and wait for results. Remember - it may take several minutes for the machine to adjust and for your meter to detect the change. Once you do this it IS a stable machine. Do not trust the thermometer included - get a really good one that you know you can trust. I haven't had my hatch yet and will update if anything changes drastically.

We were very excited to use this incubator in our Kindergarten classroom. Last year, we had a home made incubator that required us to turn the eggs manually throughout the day - this caused us to handle the eggs more frequently AND caused the temperature to fluctuate. We ended up with a 50% hatch rate. With the Pro Series Incubator, we received the egg turner as well - only ONE chick hatched (it walked crooked and died a few days later). None of the other 11 eggs hatched. Once we were well past their hatch date, we opened up a few and they were partially and fully developed, but never made it out of the egg (of course we did this without the children around). WHAT WENT WRONG?!

I am very satisfied with this incubator this is my first one and first time doing hatching eggs (had poultry for 13years & wanted to try hatching as a change) it comes with a candler and additional thermometer so you don't need to purchase anything further unless you plan on doing quail eggs then you will need the smaller turner unless turning by hand. The automatic turner fits in perfectly and I have had perfect temperature setting since plugging in. The reason four stars is it does take a few attempts to get the humidity correct, I found it better to not add any water . I would also recommend running a little longer than the 6-8 hours suggested as my humidity went from spot on to decrease to 30% so I added water which after several hours bumped it to 70%. It is perfectly controlled by the plugs in the top of the unit. I recommend this bator and for optimal set up I would suggest running in the basement. I currently have my first lot of hatching eggs in. It can be purchased cheaper at amazon.com, I got charged duties on top as well as a higher price in Canada. The seller I used is excellent!

THIS SEEMS TO BE A VERY GOOD CHEAPER BROODER

Fan was very loud from beginning, used it 5 times only and already doesn't work anymore. Fan goes off suddenly, then after shaking it works again. absolutely unreliable. Do not buy this item. Spent 20$ for fertile eggs and had to throw them out.

The incubator arrived intact and as expected, I like the fact a candling light was included. The dial thermometer on the lid is not at all accurate, but the bulb thermometer also included is. I like the built in Hygrometer. The unit is easy to clean and quiet. Once I got the thermostat set ( it takes a while ) the incubator performed as expected. Would I buy it again? Definatly a yes!