Incubator
| Incubator | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Tool |
The Incubator is the machine that turns an egg into an animal, and it is the only way to grow a flock without paying Marnie. It arrives free with the Big Coop upgrade and again with the Deluxe Coop, standing against the wall beside the Hay Hopper. Dropping an egg into it starts a wait of several days, after which the chick walks out and counts against the building's capacity. Which animal appears depends entirely on the egg: a Duck Egg gives a Duck, a Void Egg gives a Void Chicken, a Golden Egg gives a Golden Chicken, and a Dinosaur Egg gives a Dinosaur. The Coopmaster profession halves every one of those waits, which is a large part of why that profession appeals to anyone building a bird empire.
The in-game description reads: Hatches eggs into baby chickens and ducks.
Use
Using an egg on the Incubator loads it, and the machine starts counting straight away. The egg cannot simply be taken back out again once it is in, so the choice of what goes in is worth a moment's thought.
Chicken eggs are the simple case. A white egg gives a white chicken and a brown egg gives a brown one, so the colour of the flock is chosen rather than left to chance. The large versions of both work just as well, which makes the pick of the day a decision between hatching and selling.
The oddities are the interesting part. A Void Egg hatches into a Void Chicken and a Golden Egg into a Golden Chicken. A Dinosaur Egg takes around twice as long as any other and hatches into a Dinosaur, which is the only animal in the valley that lays Dinosaur Eggs itself.
Capacity rules the whole process. A Big Coop holds eight animals and a Deluxe Coop holds twelve, and an egg in the Incubator simply waits once the building is full. Selling an animal or moving one to another Coop frees a space, and walking back into the building then hatches the egg on the spot. An egg can also be taken back out of the machine while the building is at capacity, which is the one way to change a decision.
Hatching is free of the usual costs. Nothing is spent beyond the egg itself, and the chick arrives as a baby that needs the usual few days of feeding before it produces anything.
Upgrades
The Incubator has no tiers and cannot be improved at the Blacksmith. What changes the timings is the profession tree: taking Coopmaster cuts every incubation in half, so a Duck Egg that would take most of a week is ready in under three days.
A second Incubator comes with the Deluxe Coop upgrade, so a farm running both a Big Coop and a Deluxe Coop can hatch two eggs at once. The Ostrich Incubator is a separate machine that handles the Ostrich Egg, and the Slime Incubator does the same job for a Slime Egg in the Slime Hutch.
Notes
Hatching is cheaper than buying. A chicken from Marnie costs real gold, while an egg from a chicken already in the Coop costs nothing but patience, so a single starter chicken can fill a Coop within a season.
The same logic applies to Ducks. A Big Coop unlocks them for purchase, and from then on Duck Eggs laid in the Coop hatch into more Ducks, so one bought Duck becomes a whole flock given a season or two.
Eggs are worth more processed than raw. A Mayonnaise Machine turns the ordinary ones into Mayonnaise, and the unusual eggs each make their own version of it, so a Coop filled by the Incubator supplies a row of machines as well as the shipping bin.
All Tools
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Iridium Rod | 
|
25000g |
| Auto-Grabber | 
|
25000g |
| Auto-Petter | 
|
50000g |
| Axes | - | - |
| Bamboo Pole | 
|
500g |
| Fiberglass Rod | 
|
1800g |
| Golden Scythe | 
|
- |
| Hay Hopper | 
|
- |
| Heater | 
|
2000g |
| Hoes | - | - |
| Incubator | 
|
- |
| Iridium Rod | 
|
7500g |
| Iridium Scythe | 
|
- |
| Milk Pail | 
|
1000g |
| Pans | - | - |
| Pickaxes | - | - |
| Scythe | 
|
- |
| Shears | 
|
1000g |
| Training Rod | 
|
25g |
| Trash Cans | - | - |
| Watering Cans | - | - |