- May 2, 2013
- 56
- 2
- 33
I've been keeping chickens for a while now, but I always bought live birds or else was lucky enough to have a broody hen when I needed to add to my flock. I always felt like incubating was too much trouble and expense, but after reading so many great posts about people's hatching experience, and reading up on how to make an incubator, I've finally caved in.
Yesterday morning, I headed into town and bought a digital thermometer with humidity display, a lamp socket and extension cord, a bag of black aquarium gravel, and a cheap 5"x7" picture frame. I already had one of those thick-walled Omaha Steaks shipping coolers, a plastic tub some Thai noodles came in, a sports drink bottle, sponges, aluminum foil, duct tape, light bulbs and Elmer's Glue-All. I spent a total of $16 on my 24-egg incubator, and it took about half an hour to build.
The tricky part was getting the temperature right by drilling vent holes in the sides and top of the cooler. With a 60-watt bulb, the temp was too high with dozens of 3/4" vent holes, and all of that airflow was making it unstable, so I switched to a 40-watt bulb and had to cover up almost all of the holes. I had settled in on three small holes low in the front side and eight or nine in the lid, which had the temperature holding steady between 99 and 100 degrees and the humidity between 30-40%, which was what I was aiming for.
After several hours with stable temperature and humidity, I got impatient and loaded in two dozen eggs, with the big ends up at a slight angle, nestled into the gravel in the bottom (there are only 23 in the picture, but I'll get to that).
The dozen on the left are from my little flock, and honestly I have no idea what hen laid what egg. Both my roos are Dominique, and for hens I have a dozen Barred Rocks, four RIRs, three Red Comets, two black Jersey Giants, and a buff Orpington; also, all of these hens have been exposed to different roosters within the last three weeks - the RIRs and Comets were with a RIR roo, the Barred Rocks were with a Barred Rock roo, and the Giants and Orp were with whatever roo the guy I bought them from had - I didn't ask.
The eleven (originally 12) on the right were given to my stepdad by some guy he met at a sawmill. Seriously. I have no idea what these are, and at first I didn't even know if the guy had a rooster in with his hens - all I knew was that they hadn't been washed or refrigerated - but I couldn't resist the chance to find out.
The reason there are only 23 eggs now instead of 24? I'm a klutz. I wanted to reset the thermometer's memory, so I raised the lid a little, reached in, grabbed the thermometer, and dropped it, corner first, on the brown egg which had been occupying the little blank spot in the corner.
On the bright side, I now know for certain that the guy who gave my stepdad the eggs had a rooster - there was a light patch of developing cells on the side of the yolk when I opened it.
I hope to be able to post updates on how my hatch is going over the next few weeks.
Starting time: 7:30 PM CDT, May 1 2013
Starting egg count: 24
Current egg count: 23
Days to lockdown: 17
Yesterday morning, I headed into town and bought a digital thermometer with humidity display, a lamp socket and extension cord, a bag of black aquarium gravel, and a cheap 5"x7" picture frame. I already had one of those thick-walled Omaha Steaks shipping coolers, a plastic tub some Thai noodles came in, a sports drink bottle, sponges, aluminum foil, duct tape, light bulbs and Elmer's Glue-All. I spent a total of $16 on my 24-egg incubator, and it took about half an hour to build.
The tricky part was getting the temperature right by drilling vent holes in the sides and top of the cooler. With a 60-watt bulb, the temp was too high with dozens of 3/4" vent holes, and all of that airflow was making it unstable, so I switched to a 40-watt bulb and had to cover up almost all of the holes. I had settled in on three small holes low in the front side and eight or nine in the lid, which had the temperature holding steady between 99 and 100 degrees and the humidity between 30-40%, which was what I was aiming for.
After several hours with stable temperature and humidity, I got impatient and loaded in two dozen eggs, with the big ends up at a slight angle, nestled into the gravel in the bottom (there are only 23 in the picture, but I'll get to that).
The dozen on the left are from my little flock, and honestly I have no idea what hen laid what egg. Both my roos are Dominique, and for hens I have a dozen Barred Rocks, four RIRs, three Red Comets, two black Jersey Giants, and a buff Orpington; also, all of these hens have been exposed to different roosters within the last three weeks - the RIRs and Comets were with a RIR roo, the Barred Rocks were with a Barred Rock roo, and the Giants and Orp were with whatever roo the guy I bought them from had - I didn't ask.
The eleven (originally 12) on the right were given to my stepdad by some guy he met at a sawmill. Seriously. I have no idea what these are, and at first I didn't even know if the guy had a rooster in with his hens - all I knew was that they hadn't been washed or refrigerated - but I couldn't resist the chance to find out.
The reason there are only 23 eggs now instead of 24? I'm a klutz. I wanted to reset the thermometer's memory, so I raised the lid a little, reached in, grabbed the thermometer, and dropped it, corner first, on the brown egg which had been occupying the little blank spot in the corner.
On the bright side, I now know for certain that the guy who gave my stepdad the eggs had a rooster - there was a light patch of developing cells on the side of the yolk when I opened it.
I hope to be able to post updates on how my hatch is going over the next few weeks.
Starting time: 7:30 PM CDT, May 1 2013
Starting egg count: 24
Current egg count: 23
Days to lockdown: 17
