Can a glass fish tank turn into an incubator?

[foxypoproxy]

I have this glass fish tank that i no longer use.
I was wondering if it was possible to convert it into an incubator some how?
How would i go about doing this?
What would i need to add to it?

 

[Jloeffler]

Yep. I made one. There is a pic on my page if you are interested. I used:
Chicken wire bent to form a bottom and ledge
No slide material(like in drawers)
Thermometer hygrometer from Lowes
Pencil box half
Sponges
Small desk fan from Walmart
Lamp for brooder with 60 watt bulb (what I had on hand could've been smaller watt)

Hatched just fine once I read the thermometer right! Oops!

 

[Cindyandal]

Take a look at the homemade incubators pictured here on BYC....I know i saw one in there. Some realy neat ideas there.
Good Luck

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
Thank you! Thats really good to know, thats its do-able.

I would rather recycle this tank then throw it out and have to buy an incubator.
I'm looking at your picture
I think i understand some of the set up, but what is the sponges, pencil box, chicken wire, and small desk fan for?
lol sorry for being so clueless

 

[Jloeffler]

No problem! I am still clueless about much to do with chickens! The chicken wire is what I used to creat the shelf you can see to one side of the tank. I put the fan on top of the shelf to circulate the air, creating a forced air incubator. Less hot spots to cold spots. Gives a more evenly dispersed temp. The bottom part of the pencil box was under the shelf protected by the chicken wire to keep any peeps to fall in. Sponges were placed into the pencil box so when I needed to bring up the humidity I could add water to the pencil box and the sponges helped to disperse moisture into the air. I used a piece of glass out of a large old picture frame since that was a piece of tank gear I was missing. When I use it again, and I will because it worked so well, I will wrP the back and sides in aluminum foil to help prevent heat loss through the glass. During Irene we lost power for 24 hrs. We wrapped it in aluminum foil and used candles as a heat source. Boy, could that sucker get warm!! Even though we were in lock down during power outage we managed to hatch one of the two eggs and she is currently 5 weeks and going strong!

 

[bzbrown]

Quote:
Thank you! Thats really good to know, thats its do-able.

I would rather recycle this tank then throw it out and have to buy an incubator.
I'm looking at your picture
I think i understand some of the set up, but what is the sponges, pencil box, chicken wire, and small desk fan for?
lol sorry for being so clueless

Please update on this when you start the project!!!

 

[Jloeffler]

Dang, Foxy, meant to tell you that other than fan and hygrometer/thermometer everything else I already had around the house or found at the dollar store. All in all, I spent less than $20.

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
Thank you! Thats really good to know, thats its do-able.

I would rather recycle this tank then throw it out and have to buy an incubator.
I'm looking at your picture
I think i understand some of the set up, but what is the sponges, pencil box, chicken wire, and small desk fan for?
lol sorry for being so clueless

Please update on this when you start the project!!!

sure will!
Won't be for a while though.
Next spring i'm planning to hatch some bantam polish chicks under a silkie broody.
I'm going to use the incubator to hatch 2 guinea keets because i heard they don't do well being raised by chickens (i want them to be tame anyway).
I may also use the incubator as a back up if something goes wrong with the polish chicks.
So i'm just trying to figure this all out early enough and be prepared!

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
Thanks so much for all your help! I'm making notes of all of this, so when i'm ready to convert it i will know what to do.
Glad to know you were able to safely hatch your chicks, even when Irene happened!

 

[Jloeffler]

If nothing else, egg duty gave me and DH something to do while trapped in the house with three kids for two days!!