Whether you are planning for a small scale or large scale commercial hatching, it is important to choose the right type of poultry egg incubator if you are going to get good results over the long term and not waste your money down the drain. There are numerous suppliers in Kenya offering poultry egg incubators of varied designs and capacity. Some of these come from China or South Africa and some are locally assembled.
There are even homemade incubators for hatching eggs in Kenya for those who are looking for cost savings. Some are also more reliable than others and will therefore give you a better hatch rate. When you are planning to buy poultry egg incubators in Kenya, do not just look at the price of the incubators. Look at its reliability through the eyes of those who have used it before as well as the reputation of the company selling the poultry egg incubators.
If you will be buying your poultry egg incubator for the first time, you can take your time in order to evaluate what is already available in the market. What are the options and the accessories which each of the suppliers is providing, for example? What are the payment options? Do they allow for the installments payments for the poultry egg incubators? If you have the right mindset as well as good information on your fingertips, you can buy a top notch quality poultry egg incubator that you can use to hatch your chicks for many more years to come.
Understand Your Needs
This is the most important piece of advice that we would give anyone planning to buy poultry egg incubators in Kenya. Know what you want before you venture out to shop for the various options which are available. Knowing your needs is the first step to buying the most suitable poultry egg incubators which will serve you well. Some of the factors that you can look at include the following:-
What is the Cost and the Capacity of the Poultry Egg Incubator: The first thing that you should consider is the number of eggs that you are planning to hatch at any given time. If you a small scale hatcher or if you do not have a lot of money at the moment, you can start with small incubators for hatching eggs in Kenya such as one with a 48 egg capacity or even 96 egg capacity. The cost of every poultry egg incubator in Kenya will be determined by factors such as the capacity, the materials used as well as the extra features which the supplier provides. If you are a medium level entrepreneur, you can go for the hatching capacities such as the 176 egg capacity, the 264 egg capacity, the 352 egg capacity or even 528 egg capacity incubators. If you are a large scale hatcher, you can go for the egg incubators Kenya products with capacities of 880 eggs and above.
These incubators for hatching eggs in Kenya are generally worth the investment if you are planning to run a serious hatchery business that will bring you loads of money.
The technology: A lot of the egg incubators for sale in Kenya vary widely in terms of the kind of technology that has been used by the manufacturer. Some have more innovative technologies and higher efficiency and fetch a higher price. For example, some egg incubators in Kenya are built with automatic thermostats and automatic hygrometers. These contribute to better efficiency but they also up the cost a little bit.
If you don’t have the time to check on the temperature and humidity on a regular basis during the hatching process, then you can opt for these with automated instrumentation which will automatically control the temperature and the humidity. If you have the time to check on the humidity and the temperatures and also looking for low cost options, then you can bypass these and go for the ones with separate thermometers and hygrometers. If you need more technology and automation in your incubator, you will no doubt pay a higher price.
The Case Material of the Incubator: The cheaper poultry egg incubators in Kenya are built with a Styrofoam. This is a material that provides very good insulation for your incubator but they are also quite fragile. In the mid range, you can find incubators which are built using plastic. This is normally stronger and easy to clean though it might not provide quality insulation like the Styrofoam.
The Cabinet Incubators
These are the largest of the incubators. They are also built with very good technology although this varies based on the poultry egg incubators suppliers that you buy from. The case material for the cabinet poultry egg incubators in Kenya is usually made from either plastic or metal. Thanks to the huge capacity and the technology used in building these, they are usually more expensive compared to the smaller kinds of incubators and are suitable for the medium scale to large scale poultry egg incubation in Kenya.
The high capacity for these incubators is very ideal for the commercial scale poultry hatching business applications. The characteristics of these kinds of poultry incubators include the large viewing windows from where you can see the state of the eggs. They also have multiple shelves that you can use for very high capacity incubation in a commercial environment in Kenya.
Some of the cabinet incubators are built with automatic egg turners. That saves you a lot of time and energy as you do not have to turn the eggs manually three times a day.
The Tabletop Poultry Egg Incubators in Kenya
These are smaller in scale and can work best for the small scale farmers. They also have lower levels of technology although some of the poultry egg incubators suppliers in Kenya have incubators with some clever and innovative features.
These incubators are low priced so if you are short on capital and would like to start poultry egg incubation, they are the ideal choice. The cases are typically made from Styrofoam although some have plastic cases. Some are even built with automatic temperature control feature in order to ensure the ease of use.
Temperature and Humidity During Poultry Egg Incubation
Based on the region where you are planning to carry out the incubation, you will likely need an incubator that is built with better temperature and humidity monitoring technology. In colder areas in Kenya, good temperature and humidity control will be a very important factor that you will need to consider.
When making the purchases for the poultry egg incubators in Kenya, you also need to decide on the types of poultry that you plan to keep. Most of the incubators sold in Kenya can hatch eggs for chicken, quails etc. Your emphasis should, however, be on controlling the temperature and the humidity conditions inside the incubator. This is the only thing that will assure you of a high hatch rate for your eggs.
Poultry Egg Incubators Accessories
There are various accessories that you can use in order to augment the performance of your poultry egg incubators in Kenya. Some of the poultry egg incubators suppliers in Kenya will offer you these as part of the package or they may sell them separately. When shopping for the egg incubators in Kenya, check to ensure that the accessories are part of the package in order to save a few coins.
The Egg Trays
If you want to hatch properly and efficiently, your eggs will need the trays which they can sit on. There are a variety of egg trays sizes that you can get although these generally come with the incubators. There are also specialized trays that you can purchase depending on the size of the fowl. For example, the trays for the quails are generally of a different size.
The Egg Turners
For the larger commercial operations, the egg turners are generally indispensable. They will save you a lot of time and they also ensure that the eggs are hatched in a timely manner. The egg turners are also specialized for different kinds of applications like the egg trays depending on the type of poultry whose eggs are being hatched.
The Digital Thermometers or Hygrometers
They measure the levels of temperature and humidity respectively. These are important factors in the successful hatching of eggs. Some incubators come with automatic thermostats and hygrometers thus saving you lots of time and energy that would have been spent in constantly checking these conditions.
A Forced Air Fan Kit
The Forced air fan kits are added inside your poultry incubators in order to ensure that the heating is uniform. It circulates warm air inside the incubator and prevents cold pockets inside. This is one of the best ways to ensure that you have a very high hatch rate. In some of the more innovatively built incubators, you do not necessarily need these.
Egg Candlers
The egg candlers are flashlight-like devices and they will let you see the embryos inside the eggs in order to ascertain that they are fertilized. In order to use these, you can just hold the egg against the candler light and check if there is a silhouette of the embryo visible. This will also help you in determining the stage of the development of the embryo.
With some good research and information, you can easily find the best poultry egg incubators in Kenya that will suit your unique needs.