Blog

First of all, we would just like to wish you all a Happy New Year!

Already it's Mid January and Xmas is now just a distant memory, but as always we've been very busy for the last few weeks in preparing for the new season of egg incubation.

So, what have we been doing for the last month or so ???

Fighting recession, hatching a plan. 

Ok, we may be in a worldwide economic depression; prices are still rising left, right and centre, fuel costs are going up, doom and gloom all over the news channels. But here at The Incubator Shop, we believe that every cloud has a silver lining.

When the general public have less money to spend, they become very choosy about how and where they use their hard-earned cash. Value for money becomes increasingly important, and competition between businesses dramatically escalates. A recession forces businesses to look at themselves in great detail...their sales depend on it. At The Incubator Shop we're no exception.

We have listened to our Customers views, comments and feedback.

We've analysed our costs carefully, reducing those areas of business that do not add significant value to our brand. It is extremely important to us that everything we do satisfies one thing: the customer.
By reducing areas of business that don't add value and cutting back on process that produce waste or add unnecessary cost, we've managed to keep our prices very competitive, in addition to this we have some new and exciting products that will compliment and enhance our range throughout 2012.

The New Brinsea Octagon 40 egg incubator with cooling facility, the Cosmo and Cosmo Evo Egg incubators are just a small selection of the new range available now. Many more egg incubators and egg incubation related products will be available in February 2012.  (Watch this space for further updates) The Incubator Shop will also be expanding it's range of general poultry supplies including poultry health products. 

The Incubator Shop continues to hold its own in a very competitive market place, in a very difficult financial and economic climate; and what’s more, we're using it to add even more value to our business, through a premium customer service and a formidable focus on fantastic incubation and poultry products!

We're constantly looking for new and innovative ways to improve our service offering. If there's any advice you can give, please let us know!

The Incubator Shop

Would like to Wish all of our customers a Very Happy Xmas and a Healthy New Year

 Xmas opening hours and information.

Dear Customers

 Please see below our Xmas and New Year opening hours.

For your convenience and discretion at xmas time all goods that are dispatched from the 1^st December are wrapped in plain paper with no reference to the contents contained within.

This Christmas our opening hours will be as follows...

Friday 23th Dec - 09:00 – 2:00

Saturday 24th Dec - Closed

Sunday 25th Dec - Closed

Monday 26th Dec - Closed

Tuesday 27th Dec - Closed

Wednesday 28th Dec - 09:00 – 2.00

Thursday 29th Dec - 09:00 – 2.00

Friday 30th Dec – 09:00 – 2.00

Saturday 31st Dec - Closed

Sunday 1 Jan - Closed

Monday 3rd Dec – Open as normal

The first step to successfully hatching eggs is to assess the parent stock. If you don’t choose the parent stock carefully, you could come into difficulties further down the line, when incubating and hatching eggs.

For a hatching egg to be successful during incubation, it takes more than just fertility. Fertile hatching eggs also need to have the right balance of minerals and nutrients which are gained from the parent stock.

So how do you tell if the parents are healthy? There’s no point hatching eggs from poor quality stock. If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. You don’t need to be poultry expert to know what to look for in the parent stock. Just look for birds with bright red, healthy-looking combs, no obvious injuries or disabilities, and observe their body language; make sure they’re happily moving around, pecking freely. Birds that are hunched up, quiet, timid and still do not make good breeding stock.

Of course, ordering fertile hatching eggs via the post or the internet means you cannot see, first hand, the parent stock. That’s why at The Incubator Shop, we only pick reputable and established breeders of fertile hatching eggs for our “Hatching Eggs” for sale UK page.

There are many different types of incubator available and it’s important to make the choice that’s right for you. As you explore the topic of incubation, hatching and rearing through online forums, magazines or just chatting to people, you’ll find that everybody has their own opinion of which egg incubator is best. This is usually through their past experiences of hatching eggs. However, it is essential to remember one key fact about egg incubators; they all do exactly the same job.

The basic principles of incubation are always the same, and every egg incubator on the market is designed to meet all of the basic principles of incubation; it is simply their method of meeting those needs which sets them apart. For incubation to occur, there are 5 basic principles that must be adhered to.

1. Temperature – With the egg at the correct temperature (for most species this is 37.5°C), the biological process of incubation will commence and the embryo will begin to grow. The temperature must be sustained throughout the incubation period.
2. Egg turning and positioning – As the egg is turned, the embryo will pass through the egg white, allowing it to gain fresh nutrients. As the embryo grows, correct positioning of the egg ensures that the embryo forms in the correct position for hatching.
3. Humidity – The shell of an egg is porous, meaning that water can pass through it. Over the egg incubation period, water passes from the egg to the air outside. Correct humidity ensures that the right amount of water is lost over time. It is important to remember that humidity will vary, and this is not a big problem; it is the average humidity that matters more.
4. Fresh Air – It is important to note that during incubation the egg breaths; it takes in oxygen from the surrounding air and gives out carbon dioxide. A fresh air supply is vital to egg incubation and hatching eggs.
5. Clean Environment – During incubation, eggs are susceptible to infection. The warm, egg incubator is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. Eggs should be clean and disinfected before egg incubation begins.

More information can be found regarding the basics of incubation on our How to Incubate Eggs Guide. Many people are quick to blame the incubator immediately when eggs don’t hatch. But as you’ll see from our incubation guide, there are many other problems that can occur well before incubation.

On our Egg Incubators page, we have a large range of egg incubators, all capable of hatching eggs. But with so many incubators for hatching eggs, it’s hard to know where to start. Firstly, when choosing your incubator, think about the amount of eggs you want to hatch. Our smallest egg incubator is an rcom incubator capable of hatching 3 eggs; it is known as the R-Com Mini. Our largest incubators are the Brinsea Ova-Easy incubators which can incubate 100’s of eggs at once. The Brinsea Ova-Easy 380 can incubate over 300 eggs! Whether you’re looking at an R-Com incubator, a Brinsea incubator or any other type of egg incubator, what matters most is that the capacity meets your needs. Everything else is down to personal preference.

Another decision you must make when choosing an egg incubator is your method of egg turning. Firstly, manual incubators, such as the HovaBator and some Brinsea incubators have no turning mechanism at all and rely solely on the owner to turn the eggs manually, by hand. This method, if done correctly, is just as effective as other, mechanical incubators. After all, the hen turns the eggs without the use of a mechanical turner.

If you don’t have time to be manually turning the eggs, one by one, perhaps a manual egg incubator is not for you; and you should look at the Semi-Automatic or Fully Automatic egg incubators for sale.

Semi-Automatic egg incubators generally involve two main methods of turning eggs, but either method means that all the eggs can be turned at once with a simple action. The innovative design of the Brinsea Octagon incubator provides a novel method for turning eggs at the appropriate angles. An octagon has 8 sides, and each side is at a 45° angle from the next (the perfect angle for turning eggs); the semi-automatic octagon incubators provide accurate egg turning, simply by tilting the machine onto an appropriate angle.

However, if you want complete peace of mind that your eggs will be turned hour-by-hour, night and day, even without you being there; then an automatic egg incubator is for you.

The rcom suro incubator as well as many of the Brinsea Incubators operate fully automatically; turning hour-by-hour, every day. Some of the most advanced even stop the egg turning during the hatching stage in the last three days of incubation.

Dear customers and friends,

We've been receiving some questions recently regarding how our semi-automatic egg incubators work.

Below i've posted a series of photographs to demonstrate how easy the Brinsea Octagon 20 Eco Semi-Automatic incubator is to use.

Firstly, sit the incubator in its standard position, top up one water tray, set your eggs confortable within the egg dividers (either on thier side or, if you're limited for space, pointy end down) and place the lid on the incubator.

When you first place your fertile hatching eggs inside the egg incubator you'll witness a drop in temperature, as the eggs are cooler than the machine temperature. This is normal, and within half an hour, your incubator temperature should be back at a stable 37.5°C.

Following this intial procedure, the actual egg turning method is very simple...

As many times as you feel throughout the day, move the incubator into its next position. We advise moving the machine forward in the morning, back to the middle at lunch time, backwards at dinner time, and back to the middle before bed. However, you can fit the egg turning around whichever routine works best for you; but try to fit in at least 3 different setting positions per day.

Semi-Automatic Egg Incubators are exceptionally easy to use. To see our full catalogue of egg incubators, follow this link to our egg incubators page.

If you need addition information on incubation, hatching or rearing, see our FAQs page, or download a FREE guide to incubation.

I hope this has helped!

Best Regards, 

Mike and The Incubator Shop team.

Columbian Wyandottes

These beautiful birds were developed by B. M. Briggs in 1893 and named after the Columbian Exposition in Chicago that took place the same year. He developed them from crossing Barred Rocks with White Wyandottes.

Columbian Wyandottes have a white body with black tail feathers, wing tips, and black pencilled hackles. They are easy going, hardy, and are available in a great variety of beautiful feather patterns. The Wyandotte breed name derived from a once numerous tribe of North American Indians (the Wyandots).

"RARE & Recovering"

Wyandottes are very good layers of large light to rich brown spekled eggs.

They have a particularly rounded appearance. Columbian Wyandottes are white with contrasting neck, and tail plumage which are black with silvery white edging.  They have rose combs, reddish brown eyes, and yellow legs.  Chicks are a creamy white and some have dark gray shading on the back.  Considered a heavy breed, mature hens weigh about 6 1/2 pounds.

The photo's above were supplied by Ruth and Brian Hall of Hall's Hatching Eggs. To go directly to thier website, click here.

French Copper Black Marans

What an incredibly interesting history the French Copper Black Maran have. Black Copper Marans eggs are prized by French chefs. They are also the favorite egg of James Bond (strange fact). Using them for eating in the United States is almost unheard of, as they are so rare and prized. A three-egg omlet would cost more than $30; wholesale (another strange fact).

One of the difficulties faced by breeders of the Black Copper Marans in the US is the lack of genetic diversity. Much of the breeding stock left in the UK and USA are the English variety; with smooth, unfeathered legs. The French standard calls for lightly feathered legs. There are only a few breeders that have been able to produce Marans stock that comes close to the French standard.

'Marans' is inland from La Rochelle, in the middle of the Atlantic coast of France. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the breed was developed as a layer and has in its make-up Coucou de Malines, Croad Langshan, Rennes, Faverolles, Barred Rock, Brakel & Gatinaise. They are best known for the laying dark brown eggs (see above). To candle Maran hatching eggs, it is best advised to use a High-Intensity Candling Lamp.

The first birds, cuckoo coloured with feathered legs, appeared at an exhibition in La Rochelle in 1914, and after the War spread across France, arriving in England in 1929 when Lord Greenway brought some eggs back from the Paris Exhibition.

The feather legging was bred out leaving white legs and the Cuckoo Maran that we now know was standardised in the 1930s. The French developed the breed as dual purpose with good table as well as laying properties. Marans are active, compact, graceful and friendly, though they can be a bit lazy. The body has a good width, broad, deep front and a tail that is carried high. The head has a single, upright comb.

The hens may lay up to 200 dark brown eggs a year. Hens are quite individual in their egg colours, some are lighter than others and some speckled and vary through each year. The hens go broody and make good mothers; the best way to break their broodiness is to change their environment. French birds are a bit bigger and still have feathered legs.

The photo's above were supplied by Ruth and Brian Hall of Hall's Hatching Eggs. To go directly to thier website, click here.

Australorps are an Australian version of the popular Orpington breed. And, like Orpingtons, they are calm and friendly,

Australorps are excellent layers of light brown eggs, typically laying 260 eggs per year.

The Australorp's exceptionally soft, shiny black plumage has a two-tone affect; with hints of green and purple in the sunlight.

Australorps are an absolutely delightful bird which we highly recommend to anyone who wants a pet chicken that lays dependably.

The photo's above were supplied by Ruth and Brian Hall of Hall's Hatching Eggs. To go directly to thier website, click here.

The Light Sussex was bred as a dual bird and is one of the most productive breeds of poultry laying approximately 240 - 260 eggs a year!

It is also a very good producer of meat, they are sweet and gentle and make excellent garden pets, giving you fresh eggs nearly every day.

The photo's above were supplied by Ruth and Brian Hall of Hall's Hatching Eggs. To go directly to thier website, click here.

Buff Orpingtons are a beautiful breed of fowl, defined by the following characteristics:

• Single comb with evenly spaced seperations
• Red face and ear lobes
• White legs
• Soft and fluffy feathers
• Short, compact tails
• A rounded, plump body
• A golden, "buff", colouredshade of feathers

Buff Orpingtons are one of my favorite breeds of Chicken. If bred correctly, they make for fantastic show birds and, been naturally tame; Buff Orpingtons create the perfect garden pet.

Buff Orpington eggs are a fantastic light brown shade. The birds originated from Kent, but have been bred for many generations and are a popular choice throughout the UK.

The photo's above were supplied by Ruth and Brian Hall of Hall's Hatching Eggs. To go directly to thier website, click here.

Rhode Island Reds

The 'Pure Bred' Rhode Island Red's feathers are rust-colored, but darker shades are known, including maroon bordering on black. Their eyes are red-orange and they have yellow feet, with reddish-brown beaks. Chicks are a light red to tan color with two dark brown bars running down their backs. 

They are capable of laying 260 - 300 eggs a year. They are tough birds, resistant to illness, excellent layers, brilliant table birds and good at foraging and free ranging.

Typically, Rhode Island Reds are docile, quiet, and friendly.

The photo's above were supplied by Ruth and Brian Hall of Hall's Hatching Eggs. To go directly to thier website, click here.

The Chocolate Orpington Bantam

The Chocolate gene was discovered by Dr Clive Carefoot in 1994 from black Orpington Bantams imported from the continent.  Dr Carefoot for reasons only known to himself, he decided not to distribute the gene to others, and this is believed to be the main reason for the immense interest in the Chocolate coloured fowl, not only in the UK but around the world.  

Mr Rob Boyd worked extremely hard to recreate the Chocolate Orpington Bantam. He began in 2004 with what was believed to be the last remaining ‘Chocolate Orpington Hen’ belonging to Dr Carefoot. It was the intention of Rob, along with Grant and Rich, to assist Dr Carefoot and reinvigorate his strain. However, sadly Dr Carefoot passed away before the project was finished. The hen from Dr Carefoot was around 5 Years old, so getting eggs from her was tough, but Rob persisted and carried out the majority of the breeding, with genetics advice from Grant, over a 4 year period to bring the Chocolate Orpington back to life. Typically they lay a modest 160 eggs a year.

The photo's above were supplied by Ruth and Brian Hall of Hall's Hatching Eggs. To go directly to thier website, click here.

Gold Laced Orpington Bantams are a beautiful breed of miniature fowl, defined by the following characteristics:

• Single comb with evenly spaced seperations
• Red face and ear lobes
• White legs
• Soft and fluffy feathers
• Short, compact tails
• A rounded, plump body
• A golden and black lacing colouredshade of feathers

Gold Laced Orpingtons are one of my favorite breeds of Bantam. If bred correctly, they make for fantastic show birds and, been naturally tame; Gold Laced Orpingtons create the perfect garden pet.

Gold Laced Orpington eggs are a fantastic light brown shade. The birds have only been the UK for a short number of years; the gold laced gene only brought into the UK from Belgium and Germany less than a decade ago.

The photo's above were supplied by Ruth and Brian Hall of Hall's Hatching Eggs. To go directly to thier website, click here.

On day 21, the chicks made a determined effort to chip off the pointy end of the egg. They chipped away at the egg shell in short bursts and the eggs could be seen rocking from side to side. The chicks took thier first gasps of air as the top of the egg shells finally gave way. The chicks could then be seen taking a rest before begining to remove the bottom half of the egg shell.

The hatching process took its time and the chicks were visibly exhausted after their ordeal. When the chicks hatched they were very wet, but all the yolk was absorbed into the chick’s stomaches, which means that they hatched exactly when they should have.

The newly hatched chicks staggered clumsily around the incubator stopping for frequent rests.

The picture above is a close up of one of our newly born chicks. As you can see, he's a very happy little bird!

Can you spot the egg tooth at the end of the chick's beak?

Most chicks develop a small "egg tooth" whilst growing inside the egg. This egg tooth is sharp and is the perfect tool for breaking out of an egg.

Our chicks still had their egg tooths 3 or 4 days after hatch day, however many species egg tooths will fall off very shortly after hatching.

Bye for now!

After collecting some hatching eggs from the nest boxes of our beautiful Lavender Araucanas, we placed them in a standard egg box whilst we waited until our batch of eggs was big enough.

For this demonstration we decided to use the Brinsea Mini Advance incubator. A fantastic looking 7 egg incubator from Brinsea. At The Incubator Shop, we believe its extremely important to test our products regularly to ensure our high-quality standards are being met.

The next step is to clean and inspect the eggs for damage. In the picture above, you can see we have prepared a bowl in which to put our disinfectant. In this case, we used Brinsea Incubation Disinfectant diluted in ordinary tap water at a ratio of 1:100 (or 1 teaspoon in a pint of water).

At the cleaning and inspecting stage, it is important to check for any mottled eggs (those eggs with a patchy looking exterior that looks different from the rest of the batch). As you can see from the photo, we found a cracked egg amongst our patch and it was promptly discarded - broken eggs will never incubate successfully and may go rotten and contaminate the other eggs.

To clean our hatching eggs effectively, we simply used ordinary kitchen paper towel. The method is to simply hold the egg delicately in your hand, dip the paper towel in the disinfectant water bowl, and wipe the egg carefully, removing any larger bits of dirt off the egg with your fingernails.

Before placing the eggs in the incubator, leave them to dry in a cool dry room such as a utility room or kitchen.

Once the eggs were dry and the Mini Advance incubator had reached its temperature (37.5 degrees celcius), we were ready to place our eggs in the incubator.

Once the eggs were sat in the incubator, we then marked a small cross X on each egg using a pencil. We then arranged the eggs so that the pointed end faced the middle of the incubator and the pencil-drawn cross X faced upwards.

Top Tip - Drawing a mark on the eggs helps you check that the eggs are turning regularly and correctly.

Lastly, before allowing incubation to commence, we topped up one of the semi-circular water trays in the machine using ordinary tap water.

The Brinsea Mini Advance incubator allowed us to monitor the humidity over the course of incubation. Throughout the incubation period, the humidity changed regularly. This is perfectly normal.

The water we put in the tray was warmed slighly so as not to reduce the temperature inside the machine by too much.

Once the water was in the tray and the eggs were set, we simply placed the incubator lid back over the base and incubation could commence.

Top tip -  when we placed the lid back on the incubator, the temperature dropped - This is perfectly normal. When you introduce your room-temperature eggs and lukewarm water into an incubator, the temperature will, of course, drop. Don't do anything or change any settings; just leave the incubator well alone and it will soon get back to temperature.

10 days of incubation had past and it was time to candle the eggs and see if our incubator was doing its job.

For candling our eggs, we used the Brinsea OvaView candler along with the Brinsea OvaScope candling scope for optimum clarity.

To candle your eggs effectively, its best to be in a darkened room. Simply take the egg out of the incubator, place the blunt end of the egg on the light and flash it on briefly. Look for blood vessels and viens in the early stages (as pictured above) and in the later stages look for large dark areas inside the egg.

Top tip - Not sure what you're looking for when candling your fertile eggs? Take an ordinary supermarket egg from your fridge and candle it, compare this to the part-incubated hatching egg and you'll notice the difference immediately.

On day 20, the eggs began to show signs of hatching. It was a very exciting time, even though we've seen it 100's of times before! Hatching chicks has always been a very exciting experience for us, time and time again.

At this stage during incubation, the chicks can be heard chirping and cheeping inside the eggs. We also witnessed the eggs rocking from side to side as the chicks began to break free of the egg.

By now, the Brinsea Mini Advance had automatically stopped the egg turning by this point; all we needed to do was top up the water in both of the water trays to increase the humidity.

Top Tip - Increasing humidity in the hatching stage softens the egg shell, making it easier for the chicks to hatch. However, be careful not to have too much humidity. The chicks could effectively drown if too much water is present during hatching. For more information on the optimum conditions for incubation and hatching, click here.

Part 2 of the Magnificent Seven (Hatching) will be available soon.

For Sale / Wanted Hatching Eggs

Dear friends and customers,

We're now approaching the height of the breeding season...there's never a better time to buy or sell fertile hatching eggs.

The Incubator Shop's latest addition "Hatching Eggs" is a area-based directory system so people can find hatching eggs in their local area.

If you've recently bought an incubator and need to find eggs ready to incubate, look no further!

If you're a breeder, or even if you just have a few spare hatching eggs, list yourself as a breeder for just £1 per month!

Buy and Sell Hatching Eggs...

This season's incubators

If you're in need of a new incubator, now is the time to buy. As it stands today; our prices have never been more competitive and our range has never been so extensive.

When you buy an incubator, or any other item, from our store, you don't simply receive a product; you get a 5 star customer service from our expert team.

View our full range of egg incubators...

The New EcoGlow Brooders

The EcoGlow brooder range has a new edition...The EcoGlow 50! This fantastic brooder can provide heat and shelter for up to 50 chicks and uses only 50 Watts!

The EcoGlow 20 has also been improved and refined. It now gives even more thermal radiation to keep your new chicks warm and happy!

Click here for more information on EcoGlow Brooders...

At The Incubator Shop, we pride ourselves on a first class customer service.

As part of our continuing efforts to give you, the customer, everything you need to successfully hatch chicken eggs; and brood and rear your birds, we are in the process of creating a list of our favourite sites on the world wide web.

If you're reading this and think you should be added to our list, contact us and tell us why.

Remember, we will only list suppliers with a reputation for quality and customer service; so unless you offer the 5 star service, we won't be listing you here!

Firstly, take a look at The Poultry Pages; a busy site, with a definite buzz about it. Here you can find help and information on keeping chickens and other poultry at home. They offer a helpful chat forum to answer your questions, a book shop and much more.

The award means so much to us because it proves that our hard work is paying off. We want to remain the best in our industry, focusing on customer service from the very first time you view our website, right the way through to our superb after-sales help and advice.

For this award we'd like to thank our web designers, our staff and, above all, our customers; for making The Incubator Shop what it is today!

Thanks!

Humidity

Warm air at brooding temperature can result in dehydration of the hatchlings so the TLC-40 and 50 incorporate a water reservoir over which air is circulated to increase humidity within the chamber. The water reservoir is filled from outside the unit and is clear, allowing the user to monitor the water level. The reservoir contains white evaporating block to help increase humidity and these blocks are available from Brinsea Products or your local stockist. The water reservoir is removable for cleaning.

TLC-40 and 50 - Features...

• Accurate and adjustable digital temperature control
• Smooth, easy-to-clean interior
• No vulnerable edges for birds to chew
• Positive pressure with gentle fan ventilation
• Twin stage filter, for removal of harmful bacteria and fungi
• Water reservoir for increasing humidity with external top up
• Permanent calibrated digital temperature control with additional features and flexibility in Advance versions
• Tough, clear hinged door with secure catch
• Choice of two generous sizes suitable for a wide range of species
• 2 year guarantee (subject to simple online registration)

We hope this information has proved useful. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at sales@theincubatorshop.co.uk or 01482 865080.

First of all, we would just like to wish you all a Happy belated New Year!

I know it’s getting to the end of January, but we've been very very busy for the last few weeks. So we apologise for the dismal amount of blogging we've managed to fit in.

So, what have we been doing for the last month???

Fighting recession, hatching a plan.

Ok, we may be in a worldwide economic depression; prices are rising left, right and centre, fuel costs are going up, doom and gloom all over the news channels. But here at The Incubator Shop, we believe that every cloud has a silver lining.

When the general public have less money to spend, they become very choosy about how and where they use their hard-earned cash. Value for money becomes increasingly important, and competition between businesses dramatically escalates. A recession forces businesses to look at themselves in great detail...their sales depend on it. At The Incubator Shop, we're no exception.

We've analysed our costs carefully, reducing those areas of business that do not add significant value to our brand. It is extremely important to us that everything we do satisfies one thing: the customer.

By reducing areas of business that don't add value, and cutting back on process that produce waste or add unnecessary cost, we've managed to keep our prices exceptionally low, given the current market conditions. The VAT rise earlier this month caused many retailers to force their prices up, and many used this price rise as an excuse to "round up" prices, squeezing more money from consumers. At The Incubator Shop, however, we increased some prices, sure, but only by the minimum amount required. Some of our best selling products actually dropped in price!

The Incubator Shop is holding its own in a very competitive market place, in a very difficult financial and economic climate; and what’s more, we're using it to add even more value to our business, through a premium customer service and a formidable focus on fantastic incubation, poultry and pet products!

We're constantly looking for new and innovative ways to improve our service offering. If there's any advice you can give, please let us know!

The Incubator Shop goes multinational!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, The Incubator Shop is now receiving orders from around the globe. More specifically, we're focusing our efforts on Europe. We now have fully translated sites for France, Germany, Spain, Italy.

Incubation is a process that is fast becoming a global hobby. Year on year, we're selling incubators to more and more beginners. By launching our European sites, it appears the same is the case overseas.

But don't worry UK customers, we haven't forgotten you. Keep your eye on our site for more new incubation products and features coming soon to The Incubator Shop.

FAQs and an Incubation Guide

As part of our quest, to provide both the knowledge and the equipment needed to successfully breed pets and livestock, we have released "The Incubator Shop - A Guide to Incubation", a one-stop guide telling you everything you need to know about incubating poultry and bird eggs.

Our incubation guide is designed for beginners to incubation, but also includes many useful tips to anybody involved in incubating eggs or hatching chickens as well as many other feathered pets or livestock.

Our aim when writing the guide was to teach people the science of incubation, not just the basic process. By understanding the way in which nature works (and it's been doing fine for billions of years before us humans came along), egg incubation can be more easily understood as a delicate balancing act of conditions, without making it sound unachievable or unlikely.

The Incubator Shop's guide to incubation starts with the basics, explaining the minimum criteria needed to allow egg incubation to take place. It then goes on to educate the reader as to the two main types of bird species, how they incubate eggs, and how they raise their chicks.

The egg incubation process is then carefully described from both a natural and an artificial perspective. If the reader can understand how eggs are incubated in nature, they can better understand how to replicate these conditions to perform artificial egg incubation.

Although there are many egg incubators for sale on our website, our guide to incubation is designed to help the reader find the right egg incubator for them. The section "Choosing the right egg incubator" looks at the following features; Still-air or Fan-assisted, Turning method and Temperature and Humidity Control. The reader can then comfortably decide which egg incubator to buy.

The guide to incubation then finishes by describing the optimum incubation and hatching conditions for a huge range of birds and offers a troubleshooting section for those unsuccessful in incubation.

Well, give it a read, tell us what you think. If its missing anything, or you believe a particular section could have been explained better, let us know and we will continue to adapt and improve.

For those of you who only have a few basic questions on incubation, we have designed an FAQ page. Here we've answered some of the most common questions and quashed the most common misconceptions surrounding egg incubation. Take a look!

The next blog will be discussing some of the new products that will shortly be entering the market. Check back here soon for the latest news.

Bye for now!

It goes without saying that without our customers, we wouldn't exist. That's why it’s so important for us to excel in customer service and aim for 100% customer satisfaction!

But most of all, we'd like to say a massive thank you to all our customers! We know that you have a lot of choice when it comes to choosing your incubators, brooders and other poultry products; and we're very grateful that you have chosen us.

We hope that you're enjoying your products and experiencing the love and joy to be had when hatching and rearing.

This Christmas our opening hours will be as follows...

Friday 24th Dec - 09:00 - 12:00

Saturday 25th Dec - Closed

Sunday 26th Dec - Closed

Monday 27th Dec - Closed

Tuesday 28th Dec - Closed

Wednesday 29th Dec - 09:00 - 18:00

Thursday 30th Dec - Closed

Friday 31st Dec - Closed

Saturday 1st Dec - Closed

Sunday 2nd Dec - Closed

Monday 3rd Dec - Closed

Tuesday 4th Dec - 09:00 - 18:00

Feel free to send us emails over the Christmas period. We may still be able to answer them outside of office hours.

Yes! Plastic Pet Housing!

This year The Incubator Shop is expanding its product range. Not only will we provide you with the equipment to hatch your eggs, and brood and rear your newborn pets; now we can supply you with their home for life too!

A Home for Life?

Our range of plastic pet housing is exactly that - A home for life.

To begin with, lets talk about poultry...

For years, an argument has raged between traditional, wooden poultry houses and the new plastic poultry houses. Which is better? And why?

At The Incubator Shop, we've taken the four factor approach:

• Quality
• Ease of Use
• Environmental impact
• Price
  

Quality - To us, quality doesn't just refer to how well something is made. Quality involves every step of the design process; from the original concept, through to design, manufacture and finally, sales and after-sales service.

The Green Frog poultry houses for sale in our Pet Housing section are designed by poultry lovers for poultry lovers. The attention to detail is fantastic and every part of the designs has been carefully planned!

The Green Frog houses  are tough, non-toxic, chew resistant and 100% waterproof. The plastic used in the poultry houses is manufactured to a "food quality" grade - That's right; you can eat your lunch off them!

Green Frog have also defeated the condensation problem; one of the main drawbacks of plastic poultry housing. The answer is simple - built into the design of the poultry housing are four large air vents; allowing fantastic ventilation and air flow. For those cold winter nights, you can very quickly and easily cover three out of the four vents to reduce drafts whilst leaving one open for ventilation.

Ease of Use - When it comes to ease of use, Green Frog poultry houses are top of the pile. Not only do they come with a full set of easy to understand instructions; they can be disassembled and reassembled in less than 20 minutes, and as many times as you like. Green Frog designs have a life expectancy of 25 years!

The fact that these poultry houses can be easily disassembled and reassembled puts them head and shoulders above traditional wooden poultry houses. Cleaning is exceptionally easy, panels can be washed down individually as necessary and are completely non-absorbent; and so they dry easily and quickly.

But what about the dreaded Red Mite?

Green Frog designs do not eliminate Red Mite. However they are far, far superior to traditional wooden poultry housing at keeping the Red Mite at bay.

Unlike wooden poultry houses, Green Frog poultry houses have very few nooks and crannies in which Red Mite can live and breed. The smooth, impervious plastic leaves very few places for Red Mite and other parasites to hide. Not only that, but due to the fact Green Frog hen houses can be easily disassembled, Red Mite populations can be eradicated in minutes!

Environmental Impact - So what are Green Frog's green credentials?

With a name like Green Frog, you'd expect a fairly high standard of environmental responsibility, but Green Frog designs have gone above and beyond the call of duty!

The plastic used in all of the Green Frog products is 100% recycled. Materials are ordered in from a recycling plant in the Netherlands in the form of large plastic sheets. From these sheets, panels are cut with amazing accuracy, leaving very few wasted off-cuts. But it doesn't stop there - even the off cuts are sent back to be recycled and used again. And in the unlikely event that you wear you're poultry house out (though it may take 25 years), the products themselves can be fully recycled.

These products are about as Green as you can get!

Price - How much will it cost?

OK, so the raw materials aren't cheap. Green Frog's high quality plastic poultry houses cost around the same as you'd pay for premium quality wooden houses, and certainly cost more than the typical poultry house you can find in DIY and pet stores.

But you get so much more for your money. In addition to the fantastic features mentioned above, your Green Frog poultry house won't rust, won't need paint or varnish; and will last 25 years!

When you add up the cost over just a few years, plastic poultry houses present an amazing saving! True value for money.

For more information on our range of plastic poultry houses, you can give us an email at sales@theincubatorshop.co.uk or call us on 01482 865080.

All the best, 

From Mike and The Incubator Shop team!

Hello and Welcome to The Incubator Shop!!!

Its been long in the making, but our new website has arrived! The new website aims to make shopping easier for all of our customers; old and new.

The past few months have involved blood, sweat and tears; all in the name of fantastic customer service. And, by Jove, i think we've cracked it!

So what's changed?

As you can see, the website has changed significantly from its old-self. For starters, we have a completely new Home Page; one that brings a splash of colour to our industry and a feeling of fun to egg incubation. From the new Home Page, it's easy to navigate through the various site sections and find links to our latest pages and features.

Our FREE Guide to Incubation will be available very soon to download directly from our homepage! For now, you can track its progress by viewing our Incubation Guide page.

The Guide to Incubation will be a full and comprehensive guide for complete beginners and experienced hobbyists alike; we cannot wait to share our knowledge and experience with the world!

You will also see a significant change in the layout of our products. Gone are the days where shoppers had to trawl though endless pages of text to find the product they want; now it's all made easy with our Incubator Search!

Our new Incubator Search feature allows shoppers to fine-tune their search to their exact criteria. Simply choose the species you wish to incubate, followed by the number of eggs you have, followed by your chosen egg turning method. Hey Presto! Your wish is our command. Results can then be organised by price; low to high, or high to low. Simple.

Looking Ahead...

Not only have we improved the look and layout of the website; we've also added a range of new products. Look out for them!!!

Remember, customer is king! 5 Star customer service is at the heart of everything we do; and we're constantly searching for new ways to improve. If you can spot any way in which we could be better, let us know and we'll endevour to meet your needs.

All the best, and kindest wishes from...

Tony, Mike & Mike - The Incubator Shop team!