‘Here at D&R Birds in the Philippines, we’re currently running three Maxi 24 Zoologica incubators. At the moment we’re incubating African Greys, Solomon and Vosmaeri Eclectus, and both Black-headed and White-bellied Caiques.
Being in such a humid country, our incubators usually sit between 30–38% relative humidity, and we run all three at 37.2°C. We have a mixture of large, medium and small eggs in them, and so far we’ve set 22 eggs with no issues (touch wood!). The biggest thing we’ve noticed is how even the heat is throughout the whole incubator. The egg turning is also very smooth, and overall they’re just very user-friendly machines. Another thing we really like is how easy they are to clean. It’s a simple design, so routine cleaning doesn’t take long. We don’t use the automatic cooling programme, but that’s just our preference. We candle our eggs twice a day anyway, so we cool them manually while we’re doing that.
One thing we always check is temperature accuracy, and all three of our Zoologica units are dead accurate against our trusted thermometer, which gives us plenty of confidence when setting valuable eggs.
I’ve been around incubators for a long time. Back in around 1998–2000 I bought my first Brinsea Octagon 20. I wouldn’t call myself an expert—I was completely self-taught – but that little incubator is where it all started. My first hatch was six Indian Ringneck eggs and two Galah eggs. Only three chicks survived, but that was enough for me to realise I’d found something I really enjoyed. I’ve been incubating eggs ever since. Over the years I’ve used a range of incubators, and a good friend of mine in Australia suggested I take a look at the new Zoologica range. For the price, we thought we’d give them a try and bought three units.
So far they’ve been excellent. In fact, these incubators are performing every bit as well as another much more expensive model we own that cost around AUD $4,000, despite the Zoologica units costing around AUD $800 each. That’s been a pleasant surprise.
We’ve always tried to get the best value for money rather than simply buying the most expensive equipment, and at the moment I think we’ve found it. In fact, we’re already planning to add a few more Maxi Zoologica 24s in the future.
We’re still early in the season, but first impressions have been excellent. For anyone looking for an incubator that’s accurate, easy to use, simple to maintain and represents great value, our experience so far has been a very positive one.’
