Chic Chick 'Bator *UPDATED*

[Guitartists]

Trying to get that temp down a bit.

 

[gumpsgirl]

I can't wait to build one!

I WANT SOME BLUE ORP EGGS!!! Oops. Was I shouting? Sorry!

 

[Jayers]

I missed something - what is a water wiggler and what is it used for?

 

[Guitartists]

It's those water snake toys... the ones that turn inside out when you hold them.... they're full of water and if you stick a thermometer inside of it it will give you an idea of the temp that the inside of the eggs will be... right?

Oh yeah. Dollar Tree sells them in the summer.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I have been reading this thread but didn't see anything on cleaning these. Would you have to take everything apart to clean and start over?

How do you clean your home made incubator?

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[Mrs MIA]

The hardwired parts stay put, but the wire in the bottom comes out, and they clean up similar to an LG. They work really well, though I do recommend the water wiggler... my air temps had quite the swing (95-102) but the water temp stayed pretty constant. That's what I was watching.

 

[trent-mo]

Im building one right now, but instead of a computer fan, I used one from an old hairdryer.(Easier to find than a computer fan!)

 

[love-my-wolves]

I used an old tiny portable desk fan that is about 3" around. Very low air-flow, and works like a charm!!! I think my hubby won it, and we never use it, as I like lots of air-flow in the house. So it was a great choice. I did try an air hockey fan, but it was way to powerful!

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

After buying chicks and two ducklings (a Welsh Harlequin and a Blue Swede…both females) yesterday, I have chick fever! Last evening I joined this group (you all ROCK!) and spent the wee hours of the morning reading literally hundreds of pages on the Incubating and Hatching Eggs forum, and all of Miss Prissy’s ingenious incubator plans (love your detailed how-to’s and all of the pictures, MP!)

Then my “fever” was made even worse as I was cleaning out the garage a bit this afternoon and ran across 2 old Brower incubators that were buried in the mess. They are the old round table-top galvanized jobbers. Anyway, I dug them out, cleaned them up and plugged them in. Both lights turned on, but only the 846 warmed up (it holds 100 eggs). Unfortunately the screw that adjusts the temperature was rusted solid, and the temp couldn't be adjusted, and it got waaaaay too warm. So took the switch and thermostat out of the 846 and put them in the smaller 845 (holds 50 eggs) as it's in almost new condition, but it still didn't heat up. I'm thinking it may be the wires that go to the heating element are just not making a good connection, so I'll test that after dinner and hopefully can get it to work without buying parts.

But even if I get one of the Brower’s working, I am still going to make one (or two, or maybe even three…LOL) incubators this week, following Miss Prissy’s plans, as I already have a Styrofoam cooler, a tater box, and breadbox as well as most of the components needed. After all, one can never have too many incubators…

 

[MissPrissy]

WD-40 is your friend. Use it to loosen the nut and try to get them working. Some times the peices are relatively inexpensive to fix them up good as new.