CAN YOU use....

[annie3001]

hello.
i was thinking on making my own incubator, because i thought i might have a broody (would like tho) chicken, but since i dont... i was thinking i can make a incubator.
cant using a 250 watt heat source work? by placeing the eggs in a cage, and turning the eggs every few hours? would that work. please excuse me if this sounds crazy... just thought "why not" .

oh and yes i have been reading about incubating & hatching eggs threads lately.

 

[sheila3935]

for heat it might work but a cage wouldnt hold the humidity. you would need something like an aquarium and a timer to cycle the heat off and on so it wouldnt get too hot. Hope someone here who has built one can tell you more I have never built my own just hatched in a store bought incubator.

 

[Rozzie]

There have been eggs that hatched out in the open but it really doesn't produce good results. As was stated above, the humidity would be a problem.

You also wouldn't want to put a 250 watt light in an enclosure. That would be too large unless you were making a really BIG incubator, in which case you'd want more than one smaller heat source - not one super hot bulb.

I'd go with a smaller bulb in an ice chest that's been altered, if I were making an incubator. Or perhaps an aquarium with styrofoam sheets lining it, inside and outside.