Home Made Bator Help?

[vanilla.exe]

I'm working on making a "styrofoam cooler" incubator. I really want it to be forced air, because I made an incubator years ago that wasn't and only got 2 hatched out of 36 eggs (although we did have a power outage early on, it was November, and the eggs were shipped to me, so that all may have had something to do with it.) So I have 3 different PC fans that I salvaged from an old tower. Connected one to a cell phone charger as shown in an instructable I found, and nothing.

Do you think that I might have either 1. wired it wrong or 2. used the wrong type of charger?

My second question is, using a 60 watt bulb, is it imperative that I use a thermostat, or can I get by without one? I might be able to get one for free but that involves asking someone who I don't really want to ask.

Third question, I only have one hen whose eggs I'm collecting, where/how should I store the eggs while I wait until I have them all? I'm hoping to be able to collect and hatch (or try to) 6 eggs.

Four, how do I know if the eggs are fertile? Do I just assume they are until the embryos are old enough to be seen during candling?

 

[ga_goat]

no theromostat , no incubator , light bulb is fine for heat , u need a 12 volt charger most cell phones are too low on voltage , when you collect the eggs put them in a carton leaning up on the wall or somehow elevated on 1 end and change it am /pm ,,
When you get the theromostat do a dry run and set it to 99/100 no more than 101 if there is room in the box put a couple of bottles of bottled water in to help stabalize the heat , don't worry about humidity until day 17 then try to bring it up to 60/70 you can get a digital theromoter that also measures humid from wall mart for around 10 , , hope this helps

 

[vanilla.exe]

Quote:
Thanks ^^ I do have a thermometer/hydrometer thing (measures temp, humidity, inside/outside). Do you know if there's a time limit on how long the eggs can sit without being incubated and still be viable? I'm looking at probably a week and half.

 

[ga_goat]

Temp temp temp --- inside the house probably about 10 /15 days outside no more than 3 or 4 in winter .

 

[cmom]

vanilla.exe :

Thanks ^^ I do have a thermometer/hydrometer thing (measures temp, humidity, inside/outside). Do you know if there's a time limit on how long the eggs can sit without being incubated and still be viable? I'm looking at probably a week and half.

Eggs are best if set within 7 to 10 days.​