can i hatch eggs with a Heatlamp

[Isa Brownie]

Hi Ive got 8 hens and i want to hatch some more ? but i don't have a incubator any my hens aren't Broody ? i was wondering if i could use a headlamp? if so how?

 

[Fred's Hens]

I suppose just about anything is possible. But…..

Incubation requires a device to create warmth. A small light bulb is normally all that needed or a heat ring such as in a purchased incubator.

Incubation requires regulating humidity. Pretty hard to do if the eggs are not in a box of some kind, a sheltered, controlled environment.

Incubation requires that heat be kept between 99 to 101, roughly. OK, to achieve that precision, you need to regulate that heat, precisely, 24 hours a day for 21 days. To do that, in a practical way, you'll need a device to turn on the heat at 98 degrees and turn off the heat at 101 degrees, with automatic precision.

Such a device is a thermostat. That's what they do. Turn on, turn off.

So, in the end, just using a heat lamp isn't not likely to be effective, as what is controlling it? Heat lamps can also simply be dangerous and that's # 1. Safety.

 

[Isa Brownie]

ok thank you

 

[Aacre]

I use a heat lamp in a DIY 10 gallon aquarium incubator. I don't have a thermostat, but I am home enough to be able to watch the temperature, which has luckily for me, stayed pretty stable once I got it to the right temperature, etc.

 

[rayray983]

Never done it myself but my granddad used to have a heat lamp he would put over a cardboard box in his hen house he would put eggs in turn couple tines a day then last 3 to 4 days he would put a wet towel in corner he never used a thermometer and always hatched out his chicks I was a teen so only know the rough details of how he did it but it worked for him