Homemade Incubators

[mochicken]

On our November 29th hatch-along we had some pretty neat posts with homemade incubators for quai eggs / any eggs really so I thought I'd start another post where you could post pics of your homemade incubators to give us not so crafty folks a place to learn from. I am going to be building one soon hopefully, I actually got a head start because my uncle gas given me 2 little giant turner setups, one for quail and one for chickens, now I just need to figure out how to build everything else lol

Pics or ideas are welcome folks

 

[sixshooter60]

Here is my homemade hatcher its not fancy but it does hold perfect temp and humidity and it cost about 20 biucks....

and it does work...

here is a pic of my homemade bator .

 

[Jessshan8]

it is really cool that he back you up like that. My wife backs my hobby i'm not saying she doesn't she just keeps me in check otherwise I would have a hundred chickens running around:

 

[mossypath]

I have made 2 and the one I am having the best luck with is with a repti temp 500R thermostat.
It was not real cheap but It could not be any easier. You only have to wire your light to a plug and the sensor will turn on and off




your heat
.




It has been working pretty well for me. I had a spot in the front that was running a bit cooler so this time I have put in a small night light to run all the time to just add a little extra heat and give me a little more time if my light where to blow.

 

[ktuvam]

Just wanted to share the last year photos of the incubator I built. Again...I used flex watt for heating. I had found the mini fridge on the side of the road for trash pick up...I wish I could find another freebie find like this. I used the plastic thing for posters to make the outline for the plexie glass....I also use this for the end of the flex watt sheets....works great and gives it a professional look.

I should have never sold this one because I swear...I could hatch a rock if it was fertile in it. lol

 

[ktuvam]

That's a great awesome idea with the lights...I sure will have to give that a try once I'm feeling better It gives the ordinary incubator box some show and tell. I been wanting to add a light but I never thought of that kind. Have you hatched in your incubator yet? I had like 3 sportmans but I don't care what anyone says...some homemade incubators work so much better...that's why I sold them and started making my own. I do keep one foam GQF with a fan inside around just for "lockdown". Hatching ducks and goslings can be kind of messy sometimes. Lol

 

[Ankron]

Yep 19 out of 21 the two never started. I just wanted to make my own because its fun to see what u can come up with

 

[oletymer]

Well after having an incubator and all the dust in the house from raising the chicks through the winter I sold it, Then I had two banty hens go broody and my little silkie is good at sitting but when she gets off her nest to eat and stretch her legs the poor girl loses track of her nest and ends up sitting somewhere else
OMG!

So in a pinch I took some of her eggs into the house and this is what I came up with to get to the pipping stage and then I will sneak them back into the nest for her to finish hatching them ,because the babies will follow her around to keep warm, babies dont lose there moms

I use a 2" note book and tilt the box back and forth all day long but not less than 3x a day, I have candled all the eggs and so far we have all movement in all the eggs .


I used a priority shipping box made a lid from cardboard, I had a christmas tin that had a clear lid so I traced it and taped it in to see the temp. I took 2 window candles that plug in and placed 1 in each side making sure there not touching but away from the eggs, and hot glued them to the box to keep them straight from not touching the bottom of the box, After waiting to see what temps I could get fromthe 2 candle lights I added foil to reflect heat to maintain 93 degrees, and a wet sponge to keep some moisture in the box, then I added a clip light to shine in and bring the temp to 100 and it worked out well I have had them eggs in there 1 week with out the temp changing.


because the temp is maintaining to well I added more eggs to hatch out. I'll up date with my turn out of babies.

 

[darkbluespace]

Is a 100 watt bulb to hot? Wanting to make a homemade incubator but only have a 100 watt bulb, will this be suitable?

I have a 40 watt bulb in mine and it is pretty good size, so I think 100 watt is pretty hot. I also have mine on a dimmer and have a thermostat.

 

[ChicksAre4Kids]

Ah, thank you. That would explain where I got the 75% figure from. I made this last year. Good to know now since it was simple to keep it at 30 and 40. I had to add a larger bowl and rag to get it to 75. The opening between the two containers is high and allows air to pass over the eggs freely and exhaust below the screen which sits on 2x2s. The rag has tons of holes so I don't think it'll matter. I think I personally should still use the gloves since I'm usually covered in grease, oil, tar, dirt, you name it. Just to be safe I guess.


CK