Sorry for any formatting issues guys, on a phone typing this out. Just wanted to share my experience with you all.
I was looking at incubators with the intent to buy, and while many are high tech and really cool, I was hesitant to spend hundreds of dollars on one. Instead, I opted to try something as an experiment.
I took an old cooler that had been sitting under our carport for months, lined the inside with foil, and then placed river rocks at the bottom. I then poured some water into it, laid a couple washcloths on the bottom for some padding, then placed some eggs inside. I had a thermometer that was sitting around my kitchen that I placed in as well, then covered the incubator with a heating pad and two towels over the top to trap the heat inside. The heating pad was set on the lowest setting with the setting selected to keep it on constantly, and then I added water for humidity as needed and turned the eggs periodically.
There were several incidents throughout this incubation, like the power going out and the heater being turned off for a full day before I noticed, then having a weekend I was called out of town and unable to turn them or check on them. I wasn't too worried, thinking in a worst case scenario this would be a neat experiment and I could crack any eggs that died too see them at varying stages of growth.
Now today I walked in and pulled two eggs out to candle them, when one of the eggs yelled at me! I looked down, shocked, and saw a little pup in the shell. I put them back with haste and poured more water in the bottom to pump up the humidity, and by later tonight there was a baby chick hatched! I'm so excited!!
I was looking at incubators with the intent to buy, and while many are high tech and really cool, I was hesitant to spend hundreds of dollars on one. Instead, I opted to try something as an experiment.
I took an old cooler that had been sitting under our carport for months, lined the inside with foil, and then placed river rocks at the bottom. I then poured some water into it, laid a couple washcloths on the bottom for some padding, then placed some eggs inside. I had a thermometer that was sitting around my kitchen that I placed in as well, then covered the incubator with a heating pad and two towels over the top to trap the heat inside. The heating pad was set on the lowest setting with the setting selected to keep it on constantly, and then I added water for humidity as needed and turned the eggs periodically.
There were several incidents throughout this incubation, like the power going out and the heater being turned off for a full day before I noticed, then having a weekend I was called out of town and unable to turn them or check on them. I wasn't too worried, thinking in a worst case scenario this would be a neat experiment and I could crack any eggs that died too see them at varying stages of growth.
Now today I walked in and pulled two eggs out to candle them, when one of the eggs yelled at me! I looked down, shocked, and saw a little pup in the shell. I put them back with haste and poured more water in the bottom to pump up the humidity, and by later tonight there was a baby chick hatched! I'm so excited!!
