Bucket incubator

[Skipper81]

here's a pic of the inside, using cardboard egg box part and rag I dampen lightly 2x a day. Using an internal cooking thermometer which may not yield best results.

My girls have a nice clutch of eggs in the coop letting them keep since the snow keeps them inside more often.

. Did you drill holes for air flow it's very important
And are you doing a dry hatch I have a bucket setup but have bucket below full of water I'll send pics
I also had same light but took it apart and made it part of the lid everything is right on the mark so far and chicks swimming in the eggs day 11

 

[Skipper81]

Forgot a pic
So mine is a 5 gallon bucket full of water with a planter in it to hold a smaller 3 gallon bucket

 

[timothylw890]

goes

I got new eggs and switched to a lower watt bulb so Ill post a pic if successful im 3 days, I'm on day 5 and not sure if ill see anything just yet. My guiena has been laying in the coop so threw one in to see what happens.

 

[Skipper81]

Awesome have you looked into getting a hydrometer mine was like 8 bucks and I'm glad I got it because It has temp and humidity I have my eggs sitting on 5 gallons of water and it's still hard to keep humidity up with this setup

 

[timothylw890]

My basement stays relatively humid and I'll wet a rag twice a day, since you don't want too much humidity. I'm looking not to spend any money right now and just see how well it does basically dry hatching them. I'm using a 32 watt light bulb so it shouldn't dry them out reguardless. I have a hen that went brody so I more or less feel her eggs and then feel them and they are at the same temp.

 

[Skipper81]

Your lucky that she went broody I built a broody area and put eggs in it tried a few of my girls and even a duck
No one was interested so I built the incubator

 

[timothylw890]

Bad news the eggs werent fertile I guess, fed em to the dog and insoected them, have one left that seemed to have a vein or two. I put a clutch of 5 eggs under the one brody hen. Does anyone know how normal it is for a guiene hen to lay her eggs into a brody hens nest?

 

[timothylw890]

They like to lay in mu small stable when they go Brody, and thr girls know Ill put food and water next to them. Mine like seclusion when they go brody. You could try to make a small nest spot elsewhere then show them it. I did that and was lucky they accepted it.

 

[ChickenManVa.]

So tryimg my first time at incubating since my chickens are still laying like crazy being winter. I made a incubator from a bucket and heat lamp. I set it in my basement since it has relativly ok humidity. I adjust the lamp 3 or 4 times a day to keep temperature at 100 degrees as possible. Just wondering if this idea is plausible? Just wanna see how this goes before spending money, my hen hatced two in october so my basement should be a good comparison to that weather and humidity in Pennsylvania.

Thanks everyone
Tim

Back when I was a kid I would put eggs from the henhouse onto a towel that was in a cardboard box . I just draped a piece of sheet over it with a light bulb dangling over the eggs for the proper temp....forget what that was . Put an X on one side of the eggs to keep track when you turn them over every day . Then just sprinkle lightly with water twice daily . Candle them after a week to keep the good ones . Take the ones that dont have chicks inside and put them outdoors for another week or so . Then take them and throw them at the house of the meanest people in town . Be sure not to get caught , cuz they will really get mean then . But just keep doin the eggs like I said and twenty one days I think......they start to hatching....good luck and keep me posted as to both egg adventures.....