I use my for sole purpose of hatching my silkies. My incubator has a turner in so I made the other one when it was time for lockdown, so far 100% hatching.
Chic Chick 'Bator *UPDATED*
- Thread starter MissPrissy
- Start date
Quote:
Ive made several over the years, and they all worked well for a long time. I dont have chickens now, but when I did I had this simple sort of 'bator running a lot.
Several things to keep in mind -
1. Electrical wiring can be done by anybody.
However, it must be done neatly and with no exposed connections. It is always best to keep the wires and connections tight against the interior or routed outside of the unit. If it is flopping or unsecured, fix it! If you have no experience at practical wiring for small electrical appliances, go to the home center and ask someone to show you the many clamps and connectors available to keep wiring together and secure. Rule of thumb should be this: When you shake the incubator, the electrical bits shouldn't shake around with it...
2. Thermostats are the heart of the incubator
They come in several types. Some are way expensive, some are cheap and some are in the middle. I believe that for the best results as a beginner, the old fashioned wafer switch type is best. It is simple, proven reliable and not terribly expensive.
You can go cheaper with water heater thermostats, at about 1/2-2/3 the cost. But one must remember they are intended for maintaining the heat in a mass of water, not an air mass. The experimentation and fiddling needed to get them settled can be minimized (practically eliminated) by using the wafer switch.
3. Run your incubator for days, even weeks, BEFORE setting eggs
Do this until you are satisfied that it is stable and reliable. Place several of the water weasels inside, or some small bottle's filled with water to simulate the thermal load of eggs - and let it run. This is the time to make adjustments and get to know how it operates.The wrong time to learn that something else needed tweaking is when incubation has started. This single step will eliminate a lot of hand wringing and hurried posts to the BYC forums for emergency responses.
4. Understand the relationship humidity has in incubation.
Getting temperature under control is the easier of the incubating challenges to meet, once you get the hang of it.
But both ambient and chamber humidity can present a sometimes wild dynamic, and offers the bigger challenge long-term.
Remember that the barometric pressure on the outside has an effect on the inside, since you do not have a sealed chamber. You DID put vents in your incubator, right??
It is critical that you know how to hold the desired range of Rh inside the egg chamber.
I advise you to read this on the matter, if you read nothing else: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html
5. Use "thermal buffers."
These are dense items within the chamber that store the heat and so help to prevent wild swings in the air temperature. Things I have used are smooth river stones, pieces of tile, and Zip-Lok bags or soft drink bottles filled with water. So never overcrowd your incubator chamber and ensure you leave enough room for these items. Remember, it is easier to maintain control over a large air mass than a small one. The message here is clear: Make you incubator big enough and use thermal buffering.
6. Dont get "candling happy."
The first week is the most critical time for the embryo - it is extremely fragile during this phase. What you should do is minimize the handling of the egg during this period, and indeed, during the entire incubation cycle.
The trouble comes in because incubation is boring - for weeks, nothing seems to be happening. At the same time, we expect to see something for all our efforts. So, we simply MUST poke our noses in, if for no other reason than to be "doing something" with our hands. Resist that urge.
After all, you cannot undo the miracle that you have set in motion, so leave it alone to work it's magic.
I candle at these times:
a) When the eggs are set. I look for cracks, thin spots in the shell or other blatant defects. No point in setting eggs that are bad from the outset.
b) At day 7. The early stage embryo is little more than a lacework of veins, but it stabilizes after about a week, and there is usually something to see.
c) At day 14. Here I'm looking for obvious signs of decay - NOT to see embryos or take out "clear" eggs. i.e., infertile eggs that have no chick inside. If there is no sign of diseased eggs or bacterial invasion, I leave all the eggs in. This includes clears... they do no harm and they add a buffering effect.
Suffice it to say that the candler is my least used piece of incubating equipment.
7. Turning eggs is simple
Much ado is made of automatic turners these days, and they are, well, interesting. You will also hear a lot about marking eggs with an "X" and "O," one each per side, the idea being to make sure you turn them evenly. And you can dispense with all of that.
Two-three times per day simply lift the lid enough to reach your hand inside and gently roll them around. That's right, just stir them around well, with the flat of your hand. I wash my hands first and slip on a clean cotton glove for this, so as to avoid getting bacteria on them. I learned this from a man who has raised more poultry than you and I could ever count.
8. Keep your incubator quiet.
The bottom of an unused closet, cupboard or basement is ideal. Then keep it there. The wrong place for it is on a wide open counter top, subject to variations in room conditions and prying eyes or fingers. Worse yet is anywhere near a window, or where direct drafts from vents can blow on it.
What you want is to leave it alone, as much as possible, once it has stabilized.
I know that is counter intuitive, since we want to SEE what is happening. But the embryos are better off without the attention, and fluctuating room conditions hinder the appliance's ability to maintain even conditions. We depend on these machines we create to automatically do what a hen does.
It behooves us to let them do their job. Good luck and good hatching.
Ive made several over the years, and they all worked well for a long time. I dont have chickens now, but when I did I had this simple sort of 'bator running a lot.
Several things to keep in mind -
1. Electrical wiring can be done by anybody.
However, it must be done neatly and with no exposed connections. It is always best to keep the wires and connections tight against the interior or routed outside of the unit. If it is flopping or unsecured, fix it! If you have no experience at practical wiring for small electrical appliances, go to the home center and ask someone to show you the many clamps and connectors available to keep wiring together and secure. Rule of thumb should be this: When you shake the incubator, the electrical bits shouldn't shake around with it...
2. Thermostats are the heart of the incubator
They come in several types. Some are way expensive, some are cheap and some are in the middle. I believe that for the best results as a beginner, the old fashioned wafer switch type is best. It is simple, proven reliable and not terribly expensive.
You can go cheaper with water heater thermostats, at about 1/2-2/3 the cost. But one must remember they are intended for maintaining the heat in a mass of water, not an air mass. The experimentation and fiddling needed to get them settled can be minimized (practically eliminated) by using the wafer switch.
3. Run your incubator for days, even weeks, BEFORE setting eggs
Do this until you are satisfied that it is stable and reliable. Place several of the water weasels inside, or some small bottle's filled with water to simulate the thermal load of eggs - and let it run. This is the time to make adjustments and get to know how it operates.The wrong time to learn that something else needed tweaking is when incubation has started. This single step will eliminate a lot of hand wringing and hurried posts to the BYC forums for emergency responses.
4. Understand the relationship humidity has in incubation.
Getting temperature under control is the easier of the incubating challenges to meet, once you get the hang of it.
But both ambient and chamber humidity can present a sometimes wild dynamic, and offers the bigger challenge long-term.
Remember that the barometric pressure on the outside has an effect on the inside, since you do not have a sealed chamber. You DID put vents in your incubator, right??
It is critical that you know how to hold the desired range of Rh inside the egg chamber.
I advise you to read this on the matter, if you read nothing else: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html
5. Use "thermal buffers."
These are dense items within the chamber that store the heat and so help to prevent wild swings in the air temperature. Things I have used are smooth river stones, pieces of tile, and Zip-Lok bags or soft drink bottles filled with water. So never overcrowd your incubator chamber and ensure you leave enough room for these items. Remember, it is easier to maintain control over a large air mass than a small one. The message here is clear: Make you incubator big enough and use thermal buffering.
6. Dont get "candling happy."
The first week is the most critical time for the embryo - it is extremely fragile during this phase. What you should do is minimize the handling of the egg during this period, and indeed, during the entire incubation cycle.
The trouble comes in because incubation is boring - for weeks, nothing seems to be happening. At the same time, we expect to see something for all our efforts. So, we simply MUST poke our noses in, if for no other reason than to be "doing something" with our hands. Resist that urge.
After all, you cannot undo the miracle that you have set in motion, so leave it alone to work it's magic.
I candle at these times:
a) When the eggs are set. I look for cracks, thin spots in the shell or other blatant defects. No point in setting eggs that are bad from the outset.
b) At day 7. The early stage embryo is little more than a lacework of veins, but it stabilizes after about a week, and there is usually something to see.
c) At day 14. Here I'm looking for obvious signs of decay - NOT to see embryos or take out "clear" eggs. i.e., infertile eggs that have no chick inside. If there is no sign of diseased eggs or bacterial invasion, I leave all the eggs in. This includes clears... they do no harm and they add a buffering effect.
Suffice it to say that the candler is my least used piece of incubating equipment.
7. Turning eggs is simple
Much ado is made of automatic turners these days, and they are, well, interesting. You will also hear a lot about marking eggs with an "X" and "O," one each per side, the idea being to make sure you turn them evenly. And you can dispense with all of that.
Two-three times per day simply lift the lid enough to reach your hand inside and gently roll them around. That's right, just stir them around well, with the flat of your hand. I wash my hands first and slip on a clean cotton glove for this, so as to avoid getting bacteria on them. I learned this from a man who has raised more poultry than you and I could ever count.
8. Keep your incubator quiet.
The bottom of an unused closet, cupboard or basement is ideal. Then keep it there. The wrong place for it is on a wide open counter top, subject to variations in room conditions and prying eyes or fingers. Worse yet is anywhere near a window, or where direct drafts from vents can blow on it.
What you want is to leave it alone, as much as possible, once it has stabilized.
I know that is counter intuitive, since we want to SEE what is happening. But the embryos are better off without the attention, and fluctuating room conditions hinder the appliance's ability to maintain even conditions. We depend on these machines we create to automatically do what a hen does.
It behooves us to let them do their job. Good luck and good hatching.
Last edited:
I have read all 61 pages of this thread and I am so greatful for all the people who posted their knowledge and experience so that I can learn from you all. I am sure it will save me a lot of time and mistakes. It was amazing at how many people asked the same questions over and over when if they would just read the thread, which is more valuable then a huge book on how to incubate, would have known their answers and would have gained a lot of knowledge....
Thanks again for the great info and I will be making my own Prissy Bator very soon!
Thanks again for the great info and I will be making my own Prissy Bator very soon!
I, also have read all 61 pages. WHEW!!! That was great!! So much good information! I can't wait to build one! Thanks so much to all the people that did so much work on this thread so the rest of us can benefit too! YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!
I, also have read all 61 pages. WHEW!!! That was great!! So much good information! I can't wait to build one! Thanks so much to all the people that did so much work on this thread so the rest of us can benefit too! YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!
- Jul 29, 2011
- 24
- 1
- 24
Yes, 61 pages later and a bit...... no quite a bit closer to trying this myself! Thanks to all of you for posting your experiences.
Hi everyone!
I just really want to say thanks to all of you who helped contribute to this awesome chick Bator! I've been reading through this thread bit by bit for the last few days. I started building my Bator today and all I need is a fan. Its amazing to find so much info in one place and so many people eager to help and answer all kinds of questions, regardless of how ignorant they may be. This thread has been the single most helpful resource in jump starting my future of raising ducks!
I'm hoping to finish mine tomorrow and get on to tinkering with the thermostat. I could not find a wafer one in my Lowe's, I would have really prefered it to the hwh. Has anyone tried using a "bi metal" thermostat? Did anyone come up with a good way to mount the hwh thermostat so that it's away from the wall? I saw something about straws, did that work? Would it work better if it is placed with a metal contact of some kind in back of it? I had a bottle cap in mind if so. lol.
I will post pics if I can. I wish I could upload pics from my phone. I don't get on the actual PC very often! Lol.
Thanks again, everyone here is freakin awesome! Esp the one who made that diagram for the lamp kit!! I managed to get that done correctly in one shot, which would NOT have been the case otherwise. =D
I just really want to say thanks to all of you who helped contribute to this awesome chick Bator! I've been reading through this thread bit by bit for the last few days. I started building my Bator today and all I need is a fan. Its amazing to find so much info in one place and so many people eager to help and answer all kinds of questions, regardless of how ignorant they may be. This thread has been the single most helpful resource in jump starting my future of raising ducks!
I'm hoping to finish mine tomorrow and get on to tinkering with the thermostat. I could not find a wafer one in my Lowe's, I would have really prefered it to the hwh. Has anyone tried using a "bi metal" thermostat? Did anyone come up with a good way to mount the hwh thermostat so that it's away from the wall? I saw something about straws, did that work? Would it work better if it is placed with a metal contact of some kind in back of it? I had a bottle cap in mind if so. lol.
I will post pics if I can. I wish I could upload pics from my phone. I don't get on the actual PC very often! Lol.
Thanks again, everyone here is freakin awesome! Esp the one who made that diagram for the lamp kit!! I managed to get that done correctly in one shot, which would NOT have been the case otherwise. =D
I finished my incubator!
I started by connecting the lamp kit to the thermostat! (Super easy thanks to that diagram!)
Mounted it neatly.
Spliced the pc fan wires. For me the yellow one is the unused one, the red(fan) went to the black, and the black(fan) went to the dashed adapter wire.
I mounted it opposite the light and above the sponge. I hope this will provide a nice amount of humidity and air circulation!
Added the hardware cloth. I used someone else's suggestion and duct taped the sharp edges! Good idea! The wire only covers half of the fan and I didnt duct tape the area in front of it. I'm thinking it is high enough that no babies can reach the sharp edged. I should add more wire just to be safe tho.
My window, Nice clear view into the bator.
Everything is running and working good so far. I will check the temps in a few hours but I expect it to take a while to stabilize.
Oh, and I added dome pink, just for you, Miss Prissy!!
Comments, and suggestions welcome! I appreciate any input!
I started by connecting the lamp kit to the thermostat! (Super easy thanks to that diagram!)
Mounted it neatly.
Spliced the pc fan wires. For me the yellow one is the unused one, the red(fan) went to the black, and the black(fan) went to the dashed adapter wire.
I mounted it opposite the light and above the sponge. I hope this will provide a nice amount of humidity and air circulation!
Added the hardware cloth. I used someone else's suggestion and duct taped the sharp edges! Good idea! The wire only covers half of the fan and I didnt duct tape the area in front of it. I'm thinking it is high enough that no babies can reach the sharp edged. I should add more wire just to be safe tho.
My window, Nice clear view into the bator.
Everything is running and working good so far. I will check the temps in a few hours but I expect it to take a while to stabilize.
Oh, and I added dome pink, just for you, Miss Prissy!!
Comments, and suggestions welcome! I appreciate any input!
I finished my incubator!
I started by connecting the lamp kit to the thermostat! (Super easy thanks to that diagram!)
Mounted it neatly.
Spliced the pc fan wires. For me the yellow one is the unused one, the red(fan) went to the black, and the black(fan) went to the dashed adapter wire.
I mounted it opposite the light and above the sponge. I hope this will provide a nice amount of humidity and air circulation!
Added the hardware cloth. I used someone else's suggestion and duct taped the sharp edges! Good idea! The wire only covers half of the fan and I didnt duct tape the area in front of it. I'm thinking it is high enough that no babies can reach the sharp edged. I should add more wire just to be safe tho.
My window, Nice clear view into the bator.
Everything is running and working good so far. I will check the temps in a few hours but I expect it to take a while to stabilize.
Oh, and I added dome pink, just for you, Miss Prissy!!
Comments, and suggestions welcome! I appreciate any input!
Looks very nice, I like the tape.
I my suggestion for you is to drill holes into the water heater thermostat (VERY EASY)
You might also want to place the thermostat with the metal side facing the light bulb, and located within 1 1/2 inches from the light bulb.
Here are two videos explaining what I have said above.
This is the how-to video of drilling holes into the water heater thermostat.
This is a video of the placement of the thermostat, and why it needs to be located here (this thermostat is a modified thermostat also.
Wow, thanks I never would have thought of that. And he explained the difference very well in the second vid. I will diffidently try that! I'm thinking the best place to put it might be under the bulb, in my case. Would you agree? I have the screws all taped up on the thermostat, so it would be ok near the sponge, right?
Very helpful! Thanks a lot!
Very helpful! Thanks a lot!
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