First Time Hatching - Homemade Incubator

[Seasonmomma]

I’m super excited! I finally am getting some hatching eggs, after being on here for nearly four years!

I decided I’d make my own incubator, which I’ve been testing for months. I made it out of an Omaha Steaks styrofoam cooler, a 3.5” computer fan, a 40watt clear bulb with a dimmer switch, an automatic egg turner, and a hardware cloth shelf.

Currently I have a homemade water weasel/dummy egg in there with a thermometer stuffed in it, in that, the temp drops to about 96-97 at night, and unless I stay up all night, I have no idea for how long.

I was wondering if having multiple (real) eggs will help hold a higher temperature, to last through the night? Or will that not effect the temperature level? Or, if having a couple stones (I have a few egg sized ones) would help keep it warm?

Also, would any of this effect the temperature later in the incubation process? I read after awhile once chicks start developing, they’ll start producing their own heat. I was worried either that and/or having stones in the incubator might hold TOO much heat.

Thank you!

 

[JaeG]

People use water filled bottles or stones (like you suggested) to keep the heat more even. It's a bit of insurance if you have a power outage too. I only hatch quail eggs and I haven't noticed a difference in temperature as the eggs develop, but you might with bigger eggs.

Good luck and I hope you have a great hatch.