Camilles Homade Incubator

     We wanted to get the full experience of raising chickens so hatching eggs to perpetuate the flock seemed like a fun project. I wanted to see if I could come up with a working 'bator without spending any money. I was victorious in my pursuit. The hardest thing to scrounge was the t-stat. I probably spent more time than it was worth getting it as they cost about $8. 

      I started by cutting a rectangular hole in the lid of the cooler for the window. Notice it is not centered in the lid but shoved over to the right side where the egg tray is. Then I drilled a 3/8" hole in the bottom corner of the cooler opposite the egg tray for the power wires. I cut the ends off of a 12v transformer and a computer power cord saving the plug in ends. I ran both wires through the hole from the outside and direct wired the 12v to a computer fan. The fan is screwed to the back of the cooler using 2 1/2" deck screws with spacers cut from a bic pen tube. The spacers are 1 1/4" long

I then wired the big white light bulb(25w) to burn all the time. With 3 vent holes open it maintains 98-99F The 40w bulb in the gold fixture is wired through the t-stat. If the 40w bulb goes out I won't loose a rack of eggs. The constant switching on and off is hard on light bulbs so this method seems to have a fail-safe. If the 25w bulb goes out the t-stat light will still maintain the temp.

I built the egg rack with pvc pipe and fittings. It is carefully sized to fit an 18 egg carton. The wires are to insure that a full carton of eggs doesn't fall through. It pivots on the pipes sticking out of the cooler for turning. The kidney shaped dish with the sponge is for humidity and works well. I am at 55% now and I will add another dish when it is time for lockdown. I want to add a tube through one of the vent holes to refill the dish.