03/22/2025
🥚2025 Incubator Rental Info with Updated Guidelines🐣
For all you newbies this year, here is an overview of how this works:
When you notify me, Mrs. HCF, that you would like to participate you can comment here, send a message through fb, or email me at [email protected]. I will get you scheduled for an approximate start time. A very tricky and time-consuming part of managing this is figuring out who will return their gear when and accommodating everyone's busy schedules. Chickens take 21 days to incubate, ducks are 28 days, quail are 18 days, etc... Then you keep the birds around a week and return them, with all the gear, back to us at the farm. By the time they are eating a lot, drinking a lot, and pooping a lot you can part ways with no further commitment 😏
Here's what the rental includes:
-incubator and the necessary parts
-fertile eggs
-heat lamp and extra bulb
-chick starter or appropriate feed
-pine shavings (to set up their habitat after hatching)
**optional add-on - a set of plastic eggs that open to reveal an illustration of the chick's stage of development, one for each of the 21 days of chicken egg development. I wish I had some sets for ducks and other birds, but I have not found any. The sets are an additional $10 - let me know before pick up if you would like one**
I have made videos through the years to walk you through the setup process, the hatching process, and setting up the box or habitat for your birds. I will send links to those videos in an email before you begin.
Here's what is not included:
-the box or container the birds will live in for a week
-something to clip your heat lamp to
-very small dishes or jar lids for water and feed (I discuss this in detail in the box setup video)
You get to figure these things out as part of the experience! I've seen some really clever setups through the years - especially for duck waterers. They like to fling their water and play in it 😁
The rental is still $100, regardless of what type of eggs you are incubating. In the past I have charged for eggs I have to buy from someone else, but the only ones I will charge for this year would be exotic birds that I can't source easily. So for chicken, duck, or quail eggs there is no extra charge. I will try to get turkey and guinea eggs later, in the summer, and if I can time that right and offer it to you guys there would be no extra charge. Our prices have not changed since the initial round 6 years ago! We prefer cash or check payments, but we can accept paypal, venmo, or a card. If you need to use a card at pickup please let me know well in advance so I can have the card reader charged and ready.
The first round has already been scheduled and most of the second round as well, so I will open up this post for scheduling in the summer. I should have the last of round two returned by the end of May. Comment under June, July, or August if that month suits you.
Now to the updated guidelines:
As I have been going through the rental kits, cleaning the incubators and organizing the bins, I have drawn up some new guidelines that I need everyone to be aware of to preserve my sanity this rental season 😏 Every spring, in preparation for the rentals to begin, I take each incubator apart to clean the housing. I only do this once a year to remove the tiny, downy feathers that get stuck to the fan blades, and I do it every spring because by the end of summer I am completely burned out with incubators! I want to make sure that these incubators last a long time for many families to enjoy. Here are my notes going forward:
1 - Please clean the bottom parts of the incubator as soon as you are done hatching and turn the unit off. This includes the base, the rotating disc, and the water guard. The longer you leave the post-hatch debris on these parts the harder it is to get off and the more likely it is there will be staining. A smell may develop too as it sits. One year I had one returned with maggots inside! Just go ahead and clean it when you are done. These parts need to be washed with dish soap and left to air dry completely. Any water left in the incubator causes the little screws in the top housing to rust. For the top part that contains the motor and fan, just wipe with a cloth. I will take care of anything else. Do not try to open the housing by unscrewing anything! I will do that part!!
2 - Please don't throw anything away, and watch your water guard! I've already ordered more this season to replace lost ones. They really seem to get lost easily, so please be aware of your water guard. This also pertains to the instructions for the incubator (if you need it, the next family will need it too!), the information sheet that comes with the development kit (if you rent that as well), the egg carton, and the feed bag (I reuse everything as much as possible).
3 - Flashlights: I'm not sending out flashlights this year. I only have about half of them returned and I buy about a dozen every year. I get it, my kids like to hang onto them too, but scrambling to find flashlights for each kit just isn't worth it. You can make any flashlight work if you make a tunnel with your hand at the end to hold the egg. I've even done it with my cell phone light when, guess what, I can't find a flashlight!
4 - The hatch mats: These are corrugated cardboard discs cut to fit perfectly inside the incubator in place of the rotating disc. To use one you need to very carefully remove each egg during hatch time (at which point the disc wouldn't be rotating anymore), remove the yellow rotating disc, put the hatch mat down, and replace each egg approximately how it was. This is to make cleanup easier as well as to provide a bit more stability to the birds as they are breaking through their shells and climbing out on their wobbly feet. It is entirely at your discretion whether or not to use the hatch mat, I just want you to know that it is there because I'm not sure everyone sees it in the bottom of the box under the incubator. You wouldn't need it until hatch time, so keep it safe until then.
5 - This is a big pet peeve of mine, but if you have been guilty of this in the past I have already forgiven and forgotten who you are 😏 Please, please, please, do not use the bin to house your chicks. Not at home, and not on the trip back to the farm. I beg you. When this happens I have to sanitize the bin and let it air dry (again, we don't want to store the incubator with moisture), which takes time! Believe me, when all these birds start coming back to me I have plenty of chores without bin cleaning. I've also had some bins break due to animals (probably kids) knocking them down while they are drying. These bins are about $15 each. This stuff adds up when it has to be replaced repeatedly. Also, when birds are in the bins, the equipment is not! The bins are to keep the equipment safe and organized. When birds are returned in the bins I usually get handed bags and boxes full of the gear, which may or may not all be there. It is much harder to keep things together like that and harder for me to see right away if something is missing. It's just extra time and work for me. Please plan to have a good box for your baby birds to live in for the week you have them, and if you want a different box to return them in please plan for that and save a small one for travel (NB: if you are hatching quail plan to have tall boxes, cause they can fly straight up!).
I know that was a lot to read through, but if you have any questions feel free to ask them here (others may have the same questions) or contact me directly. And happy hatching!! 😊
