Building an incubator?

[angelito]

Good afternoon;

I'm considering to make my own incubator. As I read and saw many homemade incubators my question is about controlling the heating source. Some incubators in the articles have the wafer thermostat and others have the electric water heater. I see the second source is connected to the heat lamp while the first is connected to the electric wire. which of these two is better to control the temperature?

Thank you.

 

[cppeace]

Mine is basically set with a thermostat originally for my snake's heat tape. Mine is just heated with a light bulb and is a styrofoam cooler with a piece of plexiglass in the front to see when hatching and watch the temp in case of thermostat failure.

 

[angelito]

Thank you for the comment.
That’s kind of what I’m working on. I was wondering from all who have successfully hatch eggs if matters which control works better. The wafer thermostat or the water heater thermostat switch?

 

[cppeace]

My dad used the wafers with 80+% success. Mine isn't really either how I have it set up, but I've had 100% hatch for ducks and 0% hatch with chickens lol

 

[GotCoop]

You can find buy an electronic temperature regulator for $10-15 on Amazon or Ebay (inkbird is one of the brands but there are numerous ones that look exactly the same.) They have a temperature probe for inside the incubator and you can set the regulator to turn on and off your heat device (light bulbs, etc.) with a one degree differential (set the temp for 100, the heat source will turn on when temp drops to 99 and go off at 100. (You'll hear it click on and off constantly to keep a nice constant temp.) Easy to wire up. I like that the temp probe is right at egg level, versus attached to the incubator wall or top. I have one on an incubator and another on separate hatching box I use strictly during lock-down phase. (Of course as with any temperature measuring device you need to calibrate it to make sure a reading of 100 is actually 100.)

 

[GotCoop]

They come in C of F...make sure to select the one you want. the box itself is only 2x3x4 inches