CT120 SH - Egg Incubator - Setter & Hatcher

Bluestone Hatchery™
Field-Tested Review

Six Cheap Incubators Later… I Finally Switched to the CT-180

Plug and Play. Set it… and finally stop babysitting your incubator.

Are you tired of constantly checking temperature and humidity like your incubator depends on you every five minutes? I know I was.

Before switching to the CT-series, I made the mistake a lot of people make—I bought several lower-end incubators thinking I was saving money. In reality, I wasn’t saving anything. I ended up investing in six lower-end incubators, and every one of them created more work than they saved.

Most didn’t come with rollers—you had to buy those separately. Even after getting everything set up, temperatures were never truly stable. I kept several temperature gauges inside because the actual temperature rarely matched the set temperature. That alone caused stress every time I set eggs.

It’s frustrating to spend $150 or more on an incubator, then turn around and spend even more money on extra gauges just to double-check whether your machine is telling the truth.

At one point, managing those cheaper incubators started feeling like a second full-time job. I found myself jumping up out of my chair saying,
“Hold on—the incubator needs me!”

My family got a good laugh out of that… but it stopped being funny to me.

When I finally decided to try the Hatching Time CT-180, I noticed the difference right away.

First thing I appreciated—everything came with it.
No chasing accessories. No guessing what else I needed to buy. No frustration trying to make pieces work together.

Setup was simple and straightforward.

Plug it in. Add water. Set your values. Done.

That’s when I realized what people really mean when they say “automatic incubator.”

The temperature and humidity control worked the way it should—from the start. No constant adjusting. No hovering over it every few hours. No wondering if the readings were actually accurate.

For the first time in a long time, incubation felt manageable again.
Less Stress, More Confidence

One of the biggest benefits I noticed after switching to the CT-series was peace of mind.

Instead of constantly worrying about temperature swings or humidity problems, I could trust the machine to do what it was designed to do.

That meant:

✔ Less daily stress
✔ Fewer adjustments
✔ More stable incubation conditions
✔ More confidence in every hatch
✔ Less time babysitting equipment

And honestly, that last one matters more than people realize.

When you’re running hatches—or even just trying to enjoy the experience—constant monitoring wears you down.

With the CT-180, I wasn’t jumping up every few minutes anymore yelling,
“The incubator needs me!”

Most of the time… it didn’t.

If you’re just starting out and thinking about buying your first incubator, or if you’ve already struggled with cheaper models, this is something worth considering.

Especially if:
• You’re tired of temperature swings
• You don’t trust your current readings
• You’re constantly adjusting humidity
• You feel like incubation has become stressful instead of enjoyable

Automation makes a difference—and once you experience it, it’s hard to go back.

Looking back, I wish I had started with an automatic system like the CT-60 or CT-180 instead of spending money on several cheaper units first.

What I thought was saving money actually cost me more—in time, frustration, and extra equipment.

Switching to the CT-180 didn’t just improve my setup—it reduced stress and simplified my daily routine.

And that alone made it worth it.

If you’re tired of babysitting your incubator and ready for something more reliable, going automatic might be the best upgrade you make.

We love this incubator! We are very happy with the hatch rate and the chicks have plenty of room to move around in the baskets

As a small farm in CT we used to have shelves of Nurture Right 360 incubators running 22 eggs in each and it was allot of work to keep all the incubators at the right humidity and the right temperature and in the end clean them all. Now with the CT120 we are able to hatch so many more chicks with less cleaning and less monitoring... just set them and wait! We have a great hatch rate with it and looking to go even bigger next time! This has helped our business grow.

We now own the CT120 and also the CT180. These are the Cadillac of incubators. We absolutely love our incubators. They are so easy to use and make our lives so much easier. I HIGHLY recommend these incubators.

Mui guen producto de 120 huevos encubadora de los 120 huevos salieron 117 pollos yo si la recomiendo no nesesita mucha atension todo automatico

Seriously awesome incubator! If you don’t believe the set it and forget it method. This incubator will make you a believer in it!

For me this incubator seemed expensive, as I am a small hobby breeder. Last year I added turkeys to our farm. Four hens can lay a lot of eggs and the large tabletop incubator was not going to be able to keep up with the turkeys and the chickens that I wanted to hatch. So I did my research on all the incubators I could think of and hatching time popped up. Quite honestly it was the humidity control that sealed the decision for me. It looked like a pretty good control system. I was frustrated with the humidity control of the table top units, I have two different models. After setting up the CT 120, I was amazed at how accurate and consistent the humidity was. At first I monitored it every few hours, but after two days realized that as long as the reservoir had water it would be exactly where I set it. Good reliable heating and humidity makes hatching eggs very easy. My hatch rates went to high 90% of fertile turkey eggs. I hatch everything in this incubator, quail, bantams, standard chicken, turkey, and soon peafowl. My confidence in this incubator reliability is so great that I purchased a second CT120 last week to add more availability to our farm. Ordered it on Friday and it was sitting on my porch on Wednesday. If you want to make the most of the eggs that you have available do yourself a favor and get one of these CT series incubators.

I try my first run with CT120SH, all I can say it’s a really good unit, when it first arrived the unit cable wasn’t working so I contacted customer service and they were really professional and helpful sent me a replacement cable and now the machine is running.. already incubating 2 time full try , I would recommend this product to anyone. I love this company honestly and customer service.

This is by far, hands down, the best incubator I have ever used. It is so simple to operate. Even though we had a bad plug for the turner (not the fault of hatching time as these things sometimes happen). We simply called HatchingTime and they promptly shipped out a replacement. The eggs sat in the incubator for 24 hours without turning and I still got almost 100% hatch rate! Even the clean up after the hatch was simple and easy. My only suggestions would be to make the windows larger as you can only see the top or bottom turners/hatching baskets. Not a deal breaking in purchasing again, but would be nice to see more of what's going on in there. Two other items I would add if I was designing this is, I would make it WiFi compatable so I could see the temperature and humidity while away from the house, and I would make a camera add on for inside to be able to watch the hatching process so you didnt have to open the incubator before the hatch was complete. Again, not a deal breaker, just some improvements I'd like to see or at least options to add on would be nice.

I recently ordered and started using the CT120 and I am floored by the results. I’ve had fantastic hatch rates and it’s so easy and simple to use. I’ve had many other smaller incubators in the past (nurture right 360, brinsea, etc) but this one is in a different stratosphere for sure. I’ve hatched chickens, ducks, and quail so far. My only “wish” for future development is a rail similar to the quail rails for bantam and regular chicken eggs. I have bantam Cochins and I can fit 6-7 per row, but I almost always have a little extra space which causes the eggs to flop around in the tray. Same with larger chicken eggs—there is just a tiny bit of extra space which leaves just enough room for the eggs to move. Otherwise I have zero complaints!

Bought this incubator purely off of researching reviews, features,capacity and bang for buck. I’ve hatched out several hundred quail in a months time. Features alone are wonderful it’s basically a set and forget. The water resavoir combined with humidity controls are outstanding. The box being insulated and the controls keeps everything precise. Cleanup is easy with the back door. Only drawback I had was not with the incubator itself but the quail rail accessories. They work fine for bobwhite but are kinda small for coturnix. I’m already about to upgrade to the 350 simply for more capacity. Definitely sold on hatching time

Set-up was very easy. The machine went to temp. and hum. within 5 min. I transfered 14 day eggs from my Dickey and they all hatched by the 21 day. I have my 1st full term hatch coming off the 1-4-23

I was super nervous as this is my first time using an incubator. First batch 95% hatch rate and 2nd batch 100% hatch rate. (3rd batch isn’t for another few days and so on)
Easy to put together and easy to use. Pre sets were perfect for Quails.

I’ve used a number of different incubators - small cheapies from Amazon, DIY, styrofoam, even GQF 1502. Nothing compares to the Hatching Time CT 120 I recently bought. The heat and humidity are spot on and remain completely consistent. It’s easy to use and easy to clean. I will never waste my money on a different brand again.

We bought two of these for our exhibition poultry operation after years of struggling with competitors machines! We breed mostly bantams and some breeds can be more difficult to hatch, but these machines did the job better than anything we have tried. Went from historically running 48-50% hatch rates to 84-88% hatch rates with the CT180 & CT120. Same birds, same process of doing things, just much better designed equipment!
The CT120 is used as a HATCHER only and we use our CT180 for a setter. I must say that these machines are worth EVERY. SINGLE. PENNY!
Fantastic temp and humidity control, easy to clean and monitor as well! Awesome customer service as well!
I would recommend these to anyone wanting to get a quality incubator!

I am getting like a 98% hatch rate since I’ve switched to this awesome thing. It’s pretty easy to set up and once you fool with it for a little while it is amazing what all it can do. It doesn’t give any info on hatching guineas but I’ve hatched every Guinea I’ve put in it along with my other eggs. Great product no doubt!!

We took the plunge and purchased this Ct120 shortly after Christmas. We were first impressed by the short shipping time, then the packaging of the unit. One part on a tray was broken off, so I emailed Katrina and sent her a photo. She got the new tray to me in 3 days! She has been awesome to work with. I told her what I was going to be hatching and she set me up with everything I needed. Impressive customer service!
So back to the CT120 as soon as we collected a rack of chicken eggs we immediately loaded it in the incubator/hatcher. The computerized controls are very helpful. It keeps the temp and humidity exactly consistant! 💯
Our first hatch, after we candled, all 16 hatched! 100% hatch rate of the fertile eggs blew us away!
We are now totally loaded with turkey and peafowl eggs! The anticipation is unreal!
We definitely recommend this company and CT120
Could not get any better than this unit and superb customer service!