Lolliegee's Page
Here's my submission for the Incubator Contest:
I started with Bock_Bock's idea for modifying an aquarium. I don't really expect to win, just thought it was kinda cool. I started out by trying to use the original lid and lights for the aquarium. It had two 25 watt bulbs but they just didn't warm things up enough. I ended up getting an adjustable desk lamp ($11 and change from Wal-Mart) that holds a 60 watt bulb. I covered the top with heavy clear vinyl and cut a hole out for the light and another smaller hole so I could adjust the humidity. I also covered the back and sides with bubble wrap to insulate slightly from the room temperature. (We heat with a wood stove and occasionally forget to close the flue and get things too warm.) In the 2nd picture, I outlined the humidity hole in blue because it wasn't very visible in the picture. Also, sitting there is a piece of vinyl to put over the hole when I need to increase the humidity. My humidity runs about 58-63, but since I'm hatching duck eggs, I'm okay with that. If I were doing chicken eggs, I would've cut another hole.
So anyway, here it is. If I was going to be doing a lot of hatching, I probably would've just bought one, but since, for now, I only have room for a small flock, this is all I plan to do. I also bought the thermometer ($10 and change, also from Wal-Mart) and submersible aquarium heater ($24), but one of my fish tanks needs a new heater anyway, so I don't count that as an expense for this.
Thought you all might like to see an update with 2 of the duckies hatched...All 6 successfully hatched (well, actually, I started with 8, but one was infertile and one died within the first few days). I'm totally amazed at how well this worked and that all 6 of the viable eggs actually hatched. They look almost dead in the first pic, but they're just tuckered out, the poor things...Hatching is hard work!!
Here's my submission for the Incubator Contest:
I started with Bock_Bock's idea for modifying an aquarium. I don't really expect to win, just thought it was kinda cool. I started out by trying to use the original lid and lights for the aquarium. It had two 25 watt bulbs but they just didn't warm things up enough. I ended up getting an adjustable desk lamp ($11 and change from Wal-Mart) that holds a 60 watt bulb. I covered the top with heavy clear vinyl and cut a hole out for the light and another smaller hole so I could adjust the humidity. I also covered the back and sides with bubble wrap to insulate slightly from the room temperature. (We heat with a wood stove and occasionally forget to close the flue and get things too warm.) In the 2nd picture, I outlined the humidity hole in blue because it wasn't very visible in the picture. Also, sitting there is a piece of vinyl to put over the hole when I need to increase the humidity. My humidity runs about 58-63, but since I'm hatching duck eggs, I'm okay with that. If I were doing chicken eggs, I would've cut another hole.
So anyway, here it is. If I was going to be doing a lot of hatching, I probably would've just bought one, but since, for now, I only have room for a small flock, this is all I plan to do. I also bought the thermometer ($10 and change, also from Wal-Mart) and submersible aquarium heater ($24), but one of my fish tanks needs a new heater anyway, so I don't count that as an expense for this.
Thought you all might like to see an update with 2 of the duckies hatched...All 6 successfully hatched (well, actually, I started with 8, but one was infertile and one died within the first few days). I'm totally amazed at how well this worked and that all 6 of the viable eggs actually hatched. They look almost dead in the first pic, but they're just tuckered out, the poor things...Hatching is hard work!!
