Emily,
Good job on the research. You presented many good incubator choices. One simple one that I'd also include is the Nurture Rite 360. It's affordable & has awesome viewing. It also has a very easy set up and auto everything - must only add water externally. I'd compare it to the Brinsea models for hatch rate. Truly it was a surprising little find.
I love that you use a heat plate instead of the bulb. (Less fire hazard) Another thing you may want to try is chicken nipples. (Inexpensive & can be found on eBay, Amazon, or even some farm stores) Chicks are very messy and tend to kick up their bedding into the waterer. This means cleaning the brooder several times a day. Nothing nastier than slimy poopy water! By putting it in a bottle, the chicks have clean water and teacher has less work.
All you need is some type of plastic bottle from your recycle bin, a chicken nipple, and some wire to hang it (I just cut a piece of clothes hanger) Drill some holes and assemble.
Here's my DD (11 yr old) making some chicken waterers
It works using gravity & air pressure, so you cannot make a vacuum. The holes for the wire hanger will allow air in for the bottle to work. If you make a different type of hanger, just drill a small hole in the cap or leave the cap off.
another tip about types of nipples:
The screw in kind are better for very thick plastic like 5 gal buckets or PVC pipe
The push-in kind are better for thinner plastic. They come with a rubber tube-like seal which gets inserted 1st.
Happy Hatching!
Good job on the research. You presented many good incubator choices. One simple one that I'd also include is the Nurture Rite 360. It's affordable & has awesome viewing. It also has a very easy set up and auto everything - must only add water externally. I'd compare it to the Brinsea models for hatch rate. Truly it was a surprising little find.
I love that you use a heat plate instead of the bulb. (Less fire hazard) Another thing you may want to try is chicken nipples. (Inexpensive & can be found on eBay, Amazon, or even some farm stores) Chicks are very messy and tend to kick up their bedding into the waterer. This means cleaning the brooder several times a day. Nothing nastier than slimy poopy water! By putting it in a bottle, the chicks have clean water and teacher has less work.
All you need is some type of plastic bottle from your recycle bin, a chicken nipple, and some wire to hang it (I just cut a piece of clothes hanger) Drill some holes and assemble. Here's my DD (11 yr old) making some chicken waterers
It works using gravity & air pressure, so you cannot make a vacuum. The holes for the wire hanger will allow air in for the bottle to work. If you make a different type of hanger, just drill a small hole in the cap or leave the cap off.
another tip about types of nipples:
The screw in kind are better for very thick plastic like 5 gal buckets or PVC pipe
The push-in kind are better for thinner plastic. They come with a rubber tube-like seal which gets inserted 1st.
Happy Hatching!
