Chic Chick 'Bator *UPDATED*

Sally Sunshine said:

I dont have either : ( But I cant have all of the breeds! hmmmm or can I? he he he

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Muahaha! i want silkies too! just a few, they are precious. I met a little bluish silver silkie roo last month, and he had an adorable little crow What a lil dollbaby, I would have loved to take him home!

gabrielle1976 said:

I have only had my small breeds over here but I have read that lorps while good layers and all aroud chickens are not actually as friendly and calm as the orps are so maybe look at the reviews here on this sight and others maybe?

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Oh i have been reading nonstop, so many choices! I have also visited a few farms, i missed the poultry shows this year, but they will start up again soon.. So far i am really divided on the 2 breeds. I figure to get a dozen of each, and probably a dozen jerseys too. We have the land and the buildings, just need the birds

We completed our cooler bater on the weekend. We have 2 light bulbs for heating--had to use 2 X 60w. We have a digital thermometer and several mercury thermometers. We calibrated the mercury thermometers in ice water...1 was reading 32, another was +4 above, and the third was -2 below. Our issue is the mercury thermometers show a temp of 102 when thermostat shuts off and comes back on at 98. We could not calibrate the digital thermometer and it seems to be reading 102 to 104 most of the time. It has a plastic probe that was meant to be placed outside to give outdoor temp. We placed this probe in our homemade sandwich bag water wiggler. We get readings of 102-104 from the wiggler which is the same as air temp. We aren't sure if the digital thermometer is accurate and do not know how to calibrate it.

We did calibrate the hygrometer in the digital thermometer using 1/2 cup salt and 1/4 cup water...left for 12 hours was reading 75%. So we are assuming it is correctly reading the humidity. Which leads to our second issue..raising humidity. We have two 8' diameter plastic pans in the bottom almost filled with water, but can not get humidity to go above 35%. We have three 1/2" vent holes open but didnt want to have to close these to get to 50-60% humidity. If we did plug the vent holes not sure how to raise humidity to 85% for lock down. Anyone have any suggestions that might help us?

I was wondering if anyone can help me out also! I have my bator hooked up, only one light and it was holding tems well until I got the fan plugged in. Now I am having a hard time getting the temp above 97. Do I really need the fan? Will it impact everything that much? I am still trying to turn up the temp to see if that helps but I have been trying to work on this since yesterday and getting frustrated . Thanks your help is appreciated. By the way I LOVE THIS THREAD!!! I was considering buying a bator until I saw this! Love it! Thanks for all help!

Couple things, what kind of thermostat did you get. I highly recommend following the instructions here if it's NOT a wafer:


If you've done that, did you add heat sinks? Heat sinks can be anything from jars or containers filled with clean sterile water to washed rocks. These retain the heat and help to maintain the temperature and restore it when the incubator is opened.

What wattage bulb did you use? The new type of light bulbs do not give off the same amount of heat the old style did. I use a 40 watt old incandescent bulb in mine. If your incubator is particularly big, you may need two lights or simply a higher wattage bulb. I set my thermostat a few inches away from the bulb to get a more accurate reading and faster cycling.

keep ticking that thermostat up a hair at a time until you've hit the right number and remember that humidity will affect your temps as well.

Just bringing this one back to the top of my subscriptions

MissPrissy said:

My temperature is holding consistantly. The thermostat is doing its job and cycling the bulb on and off as needed. I have to make a tiny adjustment to bring the temp down about .5 to .75 of a degree to keep the internal water wiggler temp at 99.5. Right now it has been running since completion and is holding at a constant 100.8 in the water wiggler.

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What is a water wiggler???
Why is it used here???

MissPrissy said:

The egg turner I am thinking about, too! It might not be an auto turner, but what I am trying to noodle through could be manually turned from the outside of the box.

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Thats easy, and you dont havta put holes in 'Bator or strings or nothing.

Its goes someting like a dis.......

I'm sure I'm missing it, but what is the water wiggler used for?