Stardew Valleyfeatures a wide range of farm animals and livestock. While it’s not easy for new players to get all the animals, the first livestock they’ll likely acquire in the game are chickens. Chickens are known for their egg-laying abilities and provide a steady supply of fresh eggs. These eggs can be used in a variety of recipes, or placed inside anIncubator.
An Incubator is a specialized tool inStardew Valleythat is used to hatch eggs into baby chickens. This is notjust limited to chicken eggs– players can use incubators to hatch duck, ostrich, and even dinosaur eggs. This makes incubators an incredibly useful tool that farmers should have on their farms.
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How to Get an Incubator in Stardew Valley
Incubators come free of charge withCoops that have been upgraded to either Big or Deluxe tiers. To build and upgrade a Coop, players need to visit Robin, the town’s Carpenter. The Carpenter’s Shop is open from 9 AM to 5 PM every day, except Tuesdays. The shop closes early on Fridays, at 4 PM. Coop upgrades taketwo days. The requirements for each tier are mentioned below.
Big Coop
Players who want to upgrade their regular Coop to a Big Coop require400 pieces of Woodand150 Stones. The total building cost is10,000 g.
The Big Coop has a capacity of8animals and features a Feeding Bench, along with a Hay Hopper and an Incubator.
Deluxe Coop
To upgrade the Big Coop to a Deluxe Coop, players require500 pieces of Wood and 200 Stones.The total building cost is20,000 g.
The Deluxe Coop has a capacity of12animals and features a Feeding Bench, along with an Autofeed System, a Hay Hopper, and an Incubator.
How to Use the Incubator
The Incubator can be found in the upper left-hand corner inside an upgraded Coop, next to the Hay Hopper. To use the incubator, players need tohold the eggthey wish to incubate andright-clickon the incubator. The egg immediately transfers from the inventory and the incubation process begins. If the coop is at maximum capacity, the egg will not hatch until a space is freed up.
Once placed in an incubator, an egg cannot be removed.
Incubation Times
Although the incubation process for each egg remains same; the processing time for each type varies. The processing times for an egg to hatch using an incubator are given in the table below.
Always ensure that there is enough space in the coop for newly hatched animals.
Perks of the Coopmaster Profession
OnreachingFarming Level 10,players have the option to choose between the Rancher and the Tiller professions. Players who pick the Rancher profession will further have two choices – to either become a Coopmaster or a Shepherd.
The Coopmaster has its own perks. It enables players to befriend coop animals quickly and overall improves the coop product quality. Additionally, Coopmasters enjoy a significant reduction in incubation times for bothregular and OstrichIncubators, allowing eggs tohatch in half the timecompared to not having the Coopmaster perks.
Different Types of Incubators
In addition to the standard Incubator,Stardew Valleyfeatures two distinct types of Incubators that players can craft according to their needs. These are mentioned below.
Ostrich Incubator
The Ostrich Incubator is used to hatch Ostrich eggs into baby ostriches. While this incubator doesn’t come with any farm building, itmustbe placed inside aBarnafter crafting. The crafting recipe for an Ostrich Incubator is obtained from Professor Snail. It requires50 Bone Fragments,50 pieces of Hardwood, and 20 Cinder Shards.
The processing time is cut in half i.e. 7,500 minutes with the Coopmaster Profession. To incubate an Ostrich Egg, players need toright-clickon the Ostrich Incubator while holding the egg.
If the barn has reached maximum capacity, the baby ostrich will not hatch until a space is freed up.
Slime Incubator
The Slime Incubator is a specialized device used to hatch Slime Eggs into actual Slimes. The crafting recipe for a Slime Incubator is obtained when players reachCombat Level 8.It requires100 Slimes and 2 Iridium Bars.
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The Slime Incubatorin the Slime Hutchis limited to indoor slime production, while the crafted Slime Incubator enables players to raise slimes outdoors. The incubation processing time is cut in half with the Coopmaster Profession.
Stardew Valleyis available now for Android, iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
