so my husband wants to make me an incubator for my birthday! very excited! i see all the links and instructions on this site and was wondering if anyone has made any of them and which one you would recomend. I was using a hova bator and had some good luck with it but would like a fan and somthing easier to control temp and humidity
thanks
i just finished mine. cabinet style that could hold 90 eggs. 180 if you double stack egg trays. All brand new parts with a manual turner that can turn ALL the eggs with one simple lever (I dont like auto turners...i like being a part of the incubation process). I made a few mistakes on my initial build and had to buy parts that I didn't need. I could build the entire thing for about $75.
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Here you go. I followed the design of rushlanepoultry.com. I would recommend watching his videos. Wade is very helpful. I would not recommend the water heater thermostat. They work, but, they are difficult for most folks. I was keeping a temp swing of ±0.3° for days, until the room temperature changed due to the weather. Here's mine now. The second pic is current. The 1st and 3rd pics are from earlier. I ended up using a thermostat from an old Sears and Roebuck Incubator. My temps are now 99.5° ±0.1°, consistently. Yeah, it surprises me too. Most of the time that I look at it, the temp is 99.5°. I don't know how consistent the GQF thermostats are. This design really doesn't get any simpler. Without the modified LG turner and thermometers, I can build one of these for less than $100 in materials(probably several dollars than that). Rushlanepoultry.com sells them for $130 + shipping. It comes with a manual turner. You'll just have to see it. It is so simple. He says it takes less than 30 seconds to turn the eggs. Yeah, more like less than 10 seconds. Mine has circulated air, water fill through syringe, wafer thermostat, easy clean-up, lots of space for eggs, and easy access by only having to raise a lid. You don't have to remove the whole top with the heating system, fan, and everything to get to the eggs, thus exposing all eggs to low temps. You just raise the lid, take out an egg for candling and put it back. I never go below 99° when opening the lid. And, I only open to candle. To each his own. I'll like my cheap bator. I don't have to worry about bacteria creeping through the porous styrofoam. I can just wipe mine with a quick swipe of a rag with some light bleach water and it's done.
