Great hatch with DYI bator!

[careeka22]

This was my 2nd hatch with my home-made cooler incubator. Using my own flocks eggs. First hatch was 9/11 and this time 15/16 The one that didn't hatch was fully developed but just didn't make it past lockdown. I love the colors! My Lavender Orp did good. Yellow, blue and one black chicks from my CA white hen, brown from my Buff Orp girl, 2 sexlinks from my Barred Rock hen and then the rest from my Australorp. They are too cute for words!

Incubator is just a cooler, a 25w bulb and containers of water with sponges to adjust humidity, ventilation holes. No thermostat.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

View attachment 1804299 View attachment 1804300 View attachment 1804301 View attachment 1804307 This was my 2nd hatch with my home-made cooler incubator. Using my own flocks eggs. First hatch was 9/11 and this time 15/16 The one that didn't hatch was fully developed but just didn't make it past lockdown. I love the colors! My Lavender Orp did good. Yellow, blue and one black chicks from my CA white hen, brown from my Buff Orp girl, 2 sexlinks from my Barred Rock hen and then the rest from my Australorp. They are too cute for words!

Incubator is just a cooler, a 25w bulb and containers of water with sponges to adjust humidity, ventilation holes. No thermostat.

Oh my goodness they're so adorable!! Great job on the incubator to get such good hatch rates!
Not that I need another incubator...but I do have an old cooler...hehe. Which DIY did you use or did you come up with this on your own?

 

[careeka22]

Oh my goodness they're so adorable!! Great job on the incubator to get such good hatch rates!
Not that I need another incubator...but I do have an old cooler...hehe. Which DIY did you use or did you come up with this on your own?

Thank you!! I looked at tons of ideas before deciding on this one. I played around with so many light bulbs and wattage before finding the perfect one. A big round 25w clear bulb. I had a fan and everything ready to install but that dropped the temp too much so I just left it out. During days 1-18 I just use one water container with half a sponge, humidity usually stays in the 40s. I rotate the eggs 3x a day by hand. On lockdown I added another water container and more sponges and that raised it up to 60/70s. I used rubber drawer matting and then pinned it above the water to prevent drowning. I had 2 hatch day 20, 9 hatched that night and 4 on day 21 .

 

[careeka22]

Oh my goodness they're so adorable!! Great job on the incubator to get such good hatch rates!
Not that I need another incubator...but I do have an old cooler...hehe. Which DIY did you use or did you come up with this on your own?

I forgot to add I used a picture frame on the top for look through, that left holes in the lid so I stuffed it with cotton to keep the heat in. My temps range from 99-104 but usually hold pretty steady at 100/102.

 

[Meganwilson14]

I forgot to add I used a picture frame on the top for look through, that left holes in the lid so I stuffed it with cotton to keep the heat in. My temps range from 99-104 but usually hold pretty steady at 100/102.

How did you do your ventilation? Iam using an old syrfome cooler! Thats the only thing i havent figured out yet????

 

[careeka22]

How did you do your ventilation? Iam using an old syrfome cooler! Thats the only thing i havent figured out yet????

I drilled a few holes in the sides and can cover them if needed. I recently added a fan, that hatch is due Sat. I lost a lot early so interested to see how many hatch.

 

[Meganwilson14]

I drilled a few holes in the sides and can cover them if needed. I recently added a fan, that hatch is due Sat. I lost a lot early so interested to see how many hatch.

I have tons and tons of holes! My temp will not go down! Iam using a 25w light bulb

 

[careeka22]

I have tons and tons of holes! My temp will not go down! Iam using a 25w light bulb

Hmmm the incubator space may be too small. Can you add in a fan by any chance? Play around with some dimmer bulbs too. It's definitely a science! My issues were always around if the AC was on or not, it would drop my temps. This hatch I did was so good because it was spring and temps were so steady lol