Ostrich Incubator

The Ostrich Incubator is a piece of equipment used to hatch Ostrich Eggs into Ostriches. Its recipe is awarded by Professor Snail after completing the fossil collection and surveys at the Island Field Office. The incubator must be placed inside a barn, and multiple Ostrich Incubators can be placed in the same barn.

To begin incubation, right-click the machine while holding an Ostrich Egg. The hatching process takes time to complete, and the duration can be reduced by the Coopmaster Profession. Fairy Dust does not work on Ostrich Incubators.

Once an egg is ready, the Ostrich will hatch when the player enters the barn, provided there is space for it. If several Ostrich Eggs are ready at once, only one will hatch per barn entry; leaving and re-entering allows the others to hatch one by one. If the barn is full, the egg will not hatch until space is freed. This can be done by selling an animal or moving one to another barn. As soon as the barn is below capacity, entering it again will cause the egg to hatch immediately.

A few practical details are worth noting:

• Barn capacity matters for hatching: 4 animals in a Barn, 8 in a Big Barn, and 12 in a Deluxe Barn.
• If the incubator is broken while an Ostrich Egg is inside, both the egg and the incubator drop.
• Because hatching is triggered by entering the barn, it is possible to control when eggs hatch by delaying entry until there is room.

The Ostrich Incubator is therefore most useful once the player has access to Ostrich Eggs and a suitable barn setup, since it turns the barn itself into the point at which the egg is finally released.