Has anyone made a automatic water dish?

[cgjsmith]

Sorry about my odd wording i can't think of what it's called. I'm getting read to build an incubator and would really like to make it easier to add water without opening the top. I've seen sevral of the bigger models that have a bucket on top that leads to the waterdish. I don't know if there is a way to make a scaled down version of this or not. Thanks crystal

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Commode float valve.

But it is a bit big...

 

[redturtle]

one of the many farm/homestead magazines that i read...will have to look it up...
any way they used a five gallon water bottle upside down in a bucket....the bucket had holes around the bottom to let water seep into a tray...it was gravity fed...the same as regular chicken waterers
maybe u could use a soda bottle w/ a sponge in the tray...should create humidity....
but what do i know...ive never hatched eggs...as a matter of fact these are my first chickies...lol....have fun figuring something out

 

[Intheswamp]

If your goal is *not* to open the incubator then you could simply run an aquarium air tube into the incubator's water tray. Then, using a syringe you could add water as needed.

As for an "automatic" water fill you could simply have a deep pan in part of the incubator and "float" a piece of styrofoam in it. You would adjust the humdity level by increasing or decreasing the amount of styrofoam covering the water surface which would take a little trial and error (before you actually have eggs in there). More water surface exposed...more humidity. Less water surface exposed...less humidity.

The reason for the deep dish and the styrofoam is that as the water evaporates out the styrofoam will simply float on top and the exposed water surface will stay the same with the water only getting shallower (which doesn't affect the humidity level). Doing this you will have a large reservoir of water to use.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

You can also take the styrofoam/deep dish setup a bit further by measuring the size of foam that gets you certain humidity levels. Say one for the first 18 days and another (smaller) piece of foam for lockdown.

Just some thoughts,
Ed