Hospitals and poultry farms use incubators daily. They are among the most used appliances in hospitals and poultry farms. Despite their importance, very few people know about incubators.
This article aims to help solve this problem. It will describe what an incubator is and any other important information.
An incubator is an enclosure that regulates environmental factors such as temperature and humidity at optimal levels. Incubators help to hatch eggs, grow bacteria, and incubate babies.
They need optimal environmental conditions for eggs, bacteria, or babies to grow. These environmental conditions are hard to achieve without incubators. An incubator works by offering an enclosed environment where it is possible to manipulate factors such as temperature and humidity.
Incubators come in different varieties. These varieties are determined by what you want to incubate. For example, egg incubators incubate eggs. Others provide optimum conditions for bacteria growth. Another type support under-grown babies. Let us look at egg incubators.
Why use an egg incubator?
Incubators can help you scale your poultry production. The traditional method of hatching that uses the mothers for warmth requires a lot of room. It is also more expensive as you have to cater to the needs of the mothers. The incubator eliminates the need for a mother for hatching.
Incubators are lowly priced. The average egg incubator price in Kenya is low compared with other countries. The low cost and the immense benefits an incubator offers make an incubator a necessary tool for your hatching needs.
Egg incubation methods
1. Single-stage incubation
The single-stage incubation is one of the incubation methods in industrial-scale egg incubation. The key feature of this method is that the eggs in the incubator are of the same age.
Because the eggs in single-stage incubation are of the same age, it is easier to manipulate the environment to achieve optima. The temperature and humidity needed for hatching are the same since the age of the eggs is the same. If the ages were different, you would need to provide different temperatures and humidity levels for each embryonic age group.
Doing this can increase the cost of hatching your eggs.
2. Multi-stage incubation
In multi-stage incubation, the eggs to be hatched have different embryonic ages. Because of the different ages, the optimum environmental factors vary. The varying optimum conditions mean that it is costlier to maintain the environment for the eggs at optima.
Multi-stage incubators use redundancy to overcome this problem. The older eggs produce heat to warm the younger eggs.
What do you need to operate an egg incubator?
To operate an egg incubator, you will need the following:
1. A steady supply of electricity
Egg incubators use electricity to manipulate the environment. Electricity drives the incubator. If electricity is interrupted for a long time, your eggs may spoil. So to prevent losses, a constant supply of electricity is needed.
2. Ample land
Incubators need a lot of space to set up. If you want to set up an egg incubator, you must have ample room to set them up. You should have space for the incubator and its accessories.
Conclusion
If you plan to enter the poultry industry, an incubator should be on the list of things you will need to start. An egg incubator will offer you immense benefits.
