Can you take me through the process of building a homemade incubator?

[C&Rman]

Ok well I am doing a staggered quail hatch in my Brinsea Octagon 20 I will be having them hatch on 3-4 diffrent days. I need a hatcher/incubator! But I have no clue what I wil need to build me one. I have a small 2inch thick styrofoam cooler. What will I need to transform that into a hatcher? I have hardware cloth for the bottom. What else will I need? (pictures are great too!!!)

 

[busyteacher]

I'm have no clue on how to build an incubator, but good luck with your project!

 

[Jloeffler]

You are going to need a heat source, usually a light bulb, a fan, a thermometer/hygrometer, and a water well of some kind to help you control humidity. I currently am doing a maiden voyage on a homemade incubator I made out of a 10 gallon fish tank. There are several threads on here discussing making homemade incubators. There's a picture of mine on my BYC page if that helps. Many ppl will also tell you that you need a thermostat to hook your light and fan into. I did not do that, but it is a feature I might add in the future. Good luck! Hopefully someone with more practical knowledge than me will be able to help you!

 

[Lark Rise]

You'll find lots of ideas here:


https://www.backyardchickens.com/chicken-coop-incubator.html

 

[C&Rman]

A fish tank is a good idea! I have a 10 gallon one laying in my shed. I also have some nice hardwood floor wrap stuff that you lay down before the floor. I think that the fish tank would be a better way to go. I'll need to pick up some bubble wrap for extra insulation. Have you hatched any eggs from your fishtank yet? If so did everything go soomthly?

 

[ContessaKris]

I built my own out of a rubbermaid tub. You can see my first attempt (failed at keeping good temps) and then my second attempt that works and keeps correct temps and humidity, on my BYC page. I also included a list of supplies and instructions.

Good luck building one!

 

[quintinp]

You should look in the homemade incubators section, but YouTube, has become very helpful here are some videos on how to make an incubator from beginning to end.
Video #1

Video #2

Video #3

Video #4

Thank you Rebel Rooster for the videos! This is probably the best cooler bator money can buy, and you If you have most of this stuff lying around, than it will cost you a lot less, and the Wafer Thermostat not exactly needed, but it is nice to have it and not have to tinker so much with the Water heater thermostat.


IF YOU DO WANNA USE A (WATER HEATER THERMOSTAT), THAN YOU WILL NEED TO DO THIS TO IT. THIS VIDEO BELOW IS A STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL ON HOW TO MODIFY YOUR THERMOSTAT TO BE MUCH MORE SENSITIVE TO TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATION

 

[Flawedatdesign]

Well are you needing an incubator or a brooder? If your just needing something to put them in after they hatch you don't need to go all fancy. Not real familiar with Quail but that 10 gallon tank and a light bulb should do the trick.

 

[Elite Silkies]

I really like the IncuKits, they are really easy to install. They come with the thermostat, fan and heating element all in one. You just attach it to your cooler and plug it up. That's it, your done.

They are $49.99 and well worth it. I ordered 3 of them. I'm not done with my hatcher or incubator yet, but I had to use the hatcher early but here's a pic of it so far. It's actually flipped upside down in this pic because I put the unit at the top, and I couldn't stabilize my temps, so we turned the bator upside down, so the unit is at the bottom and it works great. Hatched 40 out of like 43 eggs.

 

[Jloeffler]

Awesome incubator Elitesilkies! How many eggs do you put in there? Looks like you could hatch a whole flock.

C&R I have my first batch of eggs in it right now. I candles at 14 days and at least two looked good, but won't know for sure til next weekend since they are brown eggs and I am NOT an expert candler! I did put the tank out in our garage workshop where the temps don't fluctuate as much as they do in the house. 16 ft ceilings are not conducive to maintaining even temps! I also ended up insulating two of the sides. If I use it again I'm planning to add styrofoam pieces to three sides to help maintain temps better. But it has been holding steady with very little effort on my part.

I too had almost everything at home for this gator. I bought the small desk fan from walmart for $6, the thermometer hygrometer from lowes for $7, the blue drawer grip from the dollar store as well as the plastic pencil case and sponges. The chicken wire I had left over from coop building. I do also recommend a solid glass or plexiglas top. Ave hardware will cut to size for a couple dollars. All in all, I spent less than $20. If it works I'll count this experiment a success and have an inexpensive incubator!