The 10 Best Chicken Egg Incubators

Raising chickens on your property is a fun, sustainable way to produce your own food and even make a profit. But if you’re interested in starting your own chicken farm, you have to invest in the right equipment – that includes the best egg incubator for your chickens.

This post will tell you everything you need to know about chicken egg incubators, including 10 of the best options on the market right now.

The 10 Best Egg Incubators For Your small Farm

A high-quality egg incubator is the best way to safely hatch chicken eggs on your farm. Unless you plan on making your own homemade chicken incubator, you’ll want to invest in a well-reviewed, modern product with the highest success rate.

(Products are arranged by capacity – from smallest to largest.)

To help you make your choice, I’ve reviewed 10 of the best chicken egg incubators on the market this year. Here’s everything you need to know!

Looking for the best egg incubator for beginners? This little Brinsea model has all the great qualities of a commercial incubator at a fraction of the size.

The Brinsea Mini II is an awesome little incubator for a small-scale home farm. With a clear, dome-shaped lid and automated features, you can watch your chicks hatch without much maintenance.

The sturdy ABS plastic build is safe and easy to clean. Automatic turning ensures the eggs are warmed from all sides and can be programmed at different speeds. The digital display on the lid allows you to adjust the temperature and humidity controls as needed.

To top it off, this incubator comes with a unique “countdown to hatching day” so you can see exactly when your eggs will hatch – making this a great product to teach kids about raising chicks.

This Brinsea incubator only holds up to 7 eggs at a time and is small enough to fit in a home or classroom. While it isn’t ideal for commercial farms, this is a wonderful product for beginners and families. Automated controls take all the effort out of your hands, while the clear display lets you watch it all happen.

Last (but not least) on this list is an affordable and easy-to-use little incubator that’s perfect for beginners learning to hatch chicks at home.

Want to hatch a few chickens at home? Whether it’s for your garden, a family project, or just for fun, this is one of the best small egg incubators to do the job.

The iTavah incubator comes with everything you need to hatch your chicks, including an automatic egg turner, hatching tray, and digital display to adjust the settings. It even comes with a guide for raising birds of different species. With a compact plastic build, you can easily use this incubator inside your home or classroom.

The iTavah incubator does not have a large enough capacity for a commercial farm. It’s perfect for survivalists, teachers, families, or anyone else who just wants to keep productive hens laying eggs on their property.

The Magicfly Mini egg incubator comes with an incredibly high rating for the price. It’s an affordable, dependable option for any home chicken farm.

Whether you’re new to raising chickens or an experienced farmer, this little egg incubator is one of the best options available. It comes at a surprisingly affordable price for the quality and allows you to hatch at least 9 chickens (or other fowl) at a time.

The incubator is made from durable PP+ABS material, which is safe for the eggs and sturdy enough to last for years. It comes with a movable egg tray, hatching tray, and incubator grid to house chicks before and after hatching.

One thing that makes this such a great egg incubator for beginners is that it’s semi-automatic. The temperature, and turning of the eggs are automatically controlled, so you don’t have to stress about manually monitoring it. A digital display on the top shows you the exact temperature inside the incubator at all times so you know it’s functioning.

Although this chicken egg incubator will work for anyone, I highly recommend it for a beginner. If you have never raised chickens before and are worried about the hatching process, this is the best small incubator for you – it’s compact, easy to use, and semi-automatic. You’ll be able to watch your chicks hatch without any stress!

With years of great reviews from experienced farmers, the GQF Thermal Hova-Bator packs a ton of bang for the buck. This is a great product for hatching any type of eggs.

The GQF Hova-Bator first hit the market over 30 years ago, and is still widely reviewed as one of the best small egg incubators for farmers. It warms the eggs with thermal heated air, which can be released through exhaust vents in the lid to control the humidity.

Two small viewing windows in the top of the incubator allow you to check on your eggs and watch them hatch. Inside, there is room for over a dozen eggs – because there are no pre-built slots for the eggs, it can be used to hatch ducks, geese, quail, and other fowl.

If you ask me, this is easily the best egg incubator for the money. There is no automatic egg turner (which is part of what keeps this product so cheap), so you will have to invest some energy into monitoring and turning your eggs to make sure they fully hatch. With just a little maintenance, this little incubator has a huge success rate.

The GQF Hova-Bator was originally designed for commercial chicken farmers. However, considering the low price and compact size, it’s also great for a small-scale home farm.

Because there are no automatic features, this incubator is best for someone who has hatched chicken eggs before and knows the basics of breeding: ideal incubation temperatures, how to raise chicks, how much light chickens need to keep laying, etc.

Want to hatch more than just chickens? This Harris Farms incubator has automated controls and plenty of space to raise birds of any species.

The Harris Farms Nurture Right Incubator was designed to hatch all kinds of poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese, and pheasants.

With a 360-degree clear display and an automatic rotator, you can motor your eggs without ever opening the lid. Automated controls maintain the temperature and humidity levels, and evenly spaced vents help to improve air circulation inside the incubator.

The settings can be adjusted according to the type of eggs you are hatching. With the incubator, you’ll get a clear guide on the incubation periods and ideal environments for hatching different farm birds.

This incubator was originally designed for commercial farms, but its user-friendly controls and clear display make it great for home farms as well. It comes at an affordable price for the quality, so you can feel good about buying it even if you don’t sell your poultry.

This all-in-one, automated egg incubator with digital controls is great for farmers raising any kind of poultry.

This IncuView egg incubator is semi-automated and easy to use, even if you have never raised chickens or other poultry before. It can hatch up to 22 chickens at once, or other eggs in all sizes, from quail to geese.

The automated egg turner warms the eggs on all sides without any effort. You can regulate the temperature and humidity inside the incubator with the simple LED digital display on top. It also comes with a hatching period monitor, which tells you exactly how much progress your eggs have made and how long it will be until they hatch.

With automated controls, a high capacity, and an affordable price for the quality, this egg incubator was made for anyone – tiny home farms or larger operations.

This commercial-grade egg incubator is awesome for hatching large batches of chickens. It has a clear display and automated features to make the whole hatching process easier.

If you’re looking for an efficient, durable incubator, this model from Farm Innovators will do the trick. It has an automated egg turner and clear digital display, making it easy to hatch as many eggs as you need at once.

A clear window on the top of the incubator allows you to watch your eggs’ progress, while a countdown on the monitor tells you exactly how many days are left until they hatch. An internal fan and moisture tray help to maintain humidity levels without any maintenance on your part.

This egg incubator is best for commercial farms. It can be bought in bulk (up to 5 models at once) for large-scale poultry operations. Because of the price and large capacity, it might not be ideal for an urban farm or home garden.

This HovaBator kit comes with everything you need to hatch dozens of eggs at once, making it perfect for a medium or large-scale poultry farm.

The HovaBator Deluxe comes with a built-in fan, thermometer, and moisture regulator to automatically control the environment inside the incubator. The clear lid allows you to keep an eye on your eggs and an automatic turner rotates them to keep them warm on all sides. The digital display is attached by cords and can be moved for easy monitoring.

To top it off, this kit comes with a convenient egg candler, which lights through the shell so you can see how your chicks are developing.

This incubator kit comes with everything you need to hatch your first batch of chicks, so it’s one of the best egg incubators for beginners. That said, it also has a large capacity and durable build – it will last for years on a larger poultry farm.

This Kemanner egg incubator is another solid budget option for farms of all sizes, with plenty of automated controls for beginners.

Whether you’re raising commercial poultry or just hatching your own chickens at home, this affordable egg incubator will do the trick.

The Kemanner Automatic Incubator has space for up to 48 eggs at once. An internal fan and LED digital display will automatically regulate the internal temperature and humidity. On top of that, a built-in alarm will alert you whenever humidity levels get too high or low.

The incubator is made from durable, easy-to-use plastic and comes with multiple trays for incubation and hatching.

This is one of the most versatile egg incubators on my list. While it has a high capacity for large-scale chicken farming, it also comes with an affordable price and automated controls that make it a good choice for beginners. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to raise a large batch of eggs without a major investment.

This large Brinsea incubator comes at a slightly higher price than some other options, but it’s a great investment for anyone who needs to hatch a lot of chickens at once.

Brinsea, one of the most popular producers of egg incubators today, definitely hit the mark with this commercial-grade automatic incubator.

The Brinsea incubator is made from ultra-durable ABS plastic, which holds in temperatures and is easy to clean in between hatchings. Inside, there are slots for up to 56 chicken eggs with automatic rotators so you don’t have to turn the eggs by hand.

The digital display on top of the incubator allows you to adjust the temperature, humidity, and rotating speed – however, automatic controls will maintain the settings even if you don’t adjust them. The top of the case is also completely clear, so you can check on your eggs and watch them hatch when the time comes.

56 chickens is more than most home farms will need to hatch at one time. Considering the size and price, this incubator is ideal for a farmer who raises and sells chickens for profit. Because of the design, it won’t work for hatching other types of eggs – this is the best option for large-scale, commercial chicken farms.

What To Look For in the Best Chicken Egg Incubator

As you can see from the list above, the best egg incubators come in all sizes, shapes, and functions.

So, how can you choose the best model for your home or farm? Here are a few important features to keep an eye out for. Just like you would when looking for good chicken feed, think about the features that are important to you. Here they are.

1. Capacity

How many eggs do you need to fit in your incubator at one time? The ideal capacity for your chicken egg incubator depends on your goals.

Even the best egg laying chickens will lose their productivity over time (1). So, if you are interested in raising more chicks to continue producing eggs, a small egg incubator will suffice. Hatching between 7-9 chicks in a single batch will ensure that you get at least 1-2 laying hens to keep at home. Small incubators are also great for classrooms and fun home projects with kids.

On the other hand, if you want to raise birds to sell, you should consider a larger egg incubator. An incubator with a 20-40 egg capacity will allow you to replace at least ⅓ of your flock each year, which is recommended for profitable meat and egg production (2).

2. Automation

If you have never hatched chicken eggs before, I recommend an incubator that automatically turns the eggs and adjust temperature. (All but one of the products in this list do that.) This way, you can watch your progress and learn without any risk of losing the eggs. The most important automated features include:

• Egg turning: Chicken incubators with automatic turners continuously rotate the eggs, so you don’t have to turn them by hand.
• Temperature and humidity regulation: Fans and air belts in an incubator will ensure that the environment stays safe and warm enough.
• Ventilation: The ventilation in your incubator needs to be continuously adjusted to keep your chicks healthy (3). Automated vents will open and close on their own, without manual operation.

With automation, you can safely incubate your eggs even if you don’t have the time to monitor them or don’t know how to hatch chicken eggs.

3. Digital Display

The best incubators for chicken eggs come with a digital screen to display various settings. Even if you are an expert, this is a crucial feature – it’s important to know the exact temperature and humidity level inside your incubator.

Temperatures that are too high (over 104 degrees Fahrenheit) or too low (under 84 degrees Fahrenheit) can kill chicken embryos within a few hours (4). If anything goes wrong and the temperature suddenly drops, you need to know about it.

Likewise, a humidity monitor helps you to keep the environment inside your egg incubator from becoming too wet or too dry. The more consistent your environment is, the better chances your eggs have of hatching.