Incubator?

I am planning on incubating our first eggs soon. What incubator do you recommend? Nothing Over $100 for now. Just one for starters.

I just bought one second hand which is a manual one. I have to check the water and humidity levels and turn the eggs every eight hours (although I have heard about people turning them only a few times a week, and some not turning them at all and the chicks still hatched). To many people it would seem like a bit of a pain but I don't mind it. It is cheap to build your own manual incubator too.

Just get or make a box with a ledge around the edge. You will need a container in the bottom with water, so make sure the ledge is higher than the top of the water container.

Put some mesh to rest on the ledge (make sure its strong enough not to bend under the weight of the eggs or chicks, or strengthen it with a piece of wood going under the middle from one side to the other.

Attach a heat element obviously to provide the heat.

Get a thermostat - one that just plugs into the wall with another plug like the link below, and plug the heat element into the thermostat.

PLEASE NOTE: The link is for a product on the UK Ebay site, and this particular product would not be suitable to use, as it only regulates temperatures up to 35 degrees C and chick eggs need 37.5 ideally. Unfortunately the one I know about which is suitable is not on the shops website.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TIMEGUARD...-HEATING-/260931741923?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

Set the thermostat and start turning the eggs every eight hours for 21 days, checking water levels every few days.

Find chicks.

a simple incubator can be made from light bulbs, a wafer thermostat and an old cooler. overall cost is around $50 if you buy everything new. if you use this method do not shine the lights directly on the eggs, and use more than one light bulb (in case one blows).

links you might find useful:
thermostat: http://incubatorwarehouse.com/hova-bator-wafer-thermostat-3122.html

cheap fan (optional but recommended) : http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=16-1363&catname=electric

incubator build thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...home-made-incubators-whether-they-work-or-not

some incubator stuff here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/631861/diy-thread-lets-see-your-inventions

if you use a fan the basic setup is having the fan blow past the heat source to the humidity pan. humidity is controlled by the surface area of the water. for instance a 5 inch by 5 inch pan will produce less humidity than a 5 inch by 10 inch pan.

if you have any questions feel free to ask.

This one just cost me the price of the lamp-8''x9'' cardboard box I have a 15 w bulb resting in metal pan for safety. small white dish under metal bowl has a bit of water in it- but I was dry hatching these. I have hatched out 3 batches in this bator this year.



here's the chicks in the same order as the eggs below. the lower blue egg hatched later.


I have 2 of these going- adjusted box to hold 12 eggs per box. note how I have the eggs behind the lamp and not in front of it.

15W bulb is that all? Wow I wouldn't have thought it would give off enough heat, or is it a 15W heat lamp? I am planning a brooder with a normal bulb, I was thinking a 40W but it wouldn't be a heat lanp. The box looks great. Fantastic how something so simple can assist in the creation of life.

standard 15 watt bulb. if i remember right hovabator incubators have a 14 watt element in them. the sportsman cabinets have 200 - 250 watt elements and they hold over 250 eggs. it doesnt take a hot heat source, just enough to keep it 99.5 to 101.

Yeah you only have a few eggs there but still, if you had more eggs you could just put a second bulb in or even just replace the one you have with a 40W and you are still saving a fortune on the cost of a bulb AND the cost of electricity. It doesn't need to be any more than 37.5 so it makes me wonder why so many peoplr do use those expensive, short lasting lamps when normal bulbs will do the same job.

my box is small so 15w is fine if I go with a bigger box I use a 25 w.Those tiny bubble incubators which I tried before and they are crappy, take a 7w bulb. if you are making an incubator be sure it holds the heat! test it a couple of days first.

I was really into trying out diff. homemade incubators for a while- I would look at something and think- I can make an incubator out of this. you really start to play god- and it is something in your life you can control- or at least have a quick fix miracle of birth thing with out having to wait too long or end up with a bunch of kittens. I have found this small one really works. and have only used it in the last few batches. I have modified it to hold more. more is not a good thing though because it takes longer to turn the eggs.

LOL I know what you mean. I am not considering it yet but have been researching building my own incubator and as a result being noticing all sorts of random things which I could use - washing up bowls for example hahaha. As for turning the eggs, I have 70+ eggs in the incubator at the moment (I'm hatching a lot for the allotment) and it takes a while to turn them all lol. I've found it easy to just push one end down, let the other end rise up and flip it lol. I don't mind doing it though. I get up at 5:45AM in order to be ready and awake for turning them at 6:00AM. It was a bit of a pain at first but now I enjoy it - it offers a more personal connection over just putting in the eggs and checking on them three weeks later as you would with a manual incubator.

I'm not sure how many eggs you're planning on hatching at one time but I have this

http://www.amazon.com/Brinsea-Mini-...8&qid=1376136170&sr=8-3&keywords=brinsea+mini

It's the Brinsea Mini Eco incubator. I had 100% hatch rate with this. With SHIPPED eggs. I could only incubate 10 at a time though, which was fine by me. It maintains temp really well and if you open it it's back up to temp in less than 5 mins, that's why I like it. Good luck!