Home made incubators and egg turners

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Have you already drilled your water heater t-stat case (i skimmed this thread so I may have missed that)? If not i suggest doing it, it does help. Just put like 4 holes in the face of the plastic case so the warm air doesn't have the plastic case as a thermal mass obstructing the heat reaching the actual mechanism.
 
dc3085 said:
Residential thermostats have a top end set point of 90-95 degrees. It damages the set points rendering it useless if you try to modify it (been down that road). Honestly and it would be a lot of work, you'd need one out of an appliance like a toaster oven to have anything better than what you got, without ordering.

Again wasn't trying to pick on anyone and I know it can be made to work (being a redneck I also know all about using what you have), but you see the extra work involved moving bulbs around and such, also when you need to raise humidity by 10-15% and lower temp by a half degree for lockdown they make it difficult to make fine adjustments. If you don't have eggs in it yet practice getting it up to lockdown humidity with all the vents open if you haven't already.

A lot depends on how much you use it. I have to schedule my incubators cleanings because they never turn off 9 months of the year so I'm all about making them low hassle, if the temp is off someone bumped my t-stat dial or I have a mechanical failure.
Click to expand...

Oh I didn't think you were picking on anyone.

The way I made mine the bulbs are able to pivot closer or farther from the thermostat without having to drill new holes or anything to move them...I can move them closer and farther away very easily....so it's not a major operation for me to move them as it would be for some.....and the closer I moved them to the thermostat the less swing in temps I get. One bulb is on constant, straight wired and there is another bulb that is the only one on the thermostat. It just pops off and on intermittently and the temp has been staying between 98.6 and 101 today....most of the time it's been on 99.9 or 100.2 every time I look at it...but when I check the max and min it shows 98.6 to 101.0 I don't think that's too bad. I was getting more variation before I moved the bulbs closer to the thermostat. I am also getting pretty good humidity with water in a large tray I get about 35 to 45 % and If I ad water to a second smaller tray with sponges it goes up to 55 - 65 % humidity. I think I am ready to try hatching something.

I know more precise equipment would probably work better but most of this stuff I had here at the house. And I don't anticipate hatching eggs more than a couple times a year (if this thing works that is).
 
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Keep your eyes peeled on CL and often you'll see auto turners pop up really cheap from unused accessory kits people buy. Thats the kind of auto turner you want for a cooler bator (a cheap one). Then just take a hacksaw and saw the last three rows off. It fits perfect in a cooler bator and can turn 60 quail eggs or like 20 chicken eggs. Not worth buying a new one to do it for $55 but if you can find one for $20 on CL....
 
I just ran across this thread. I built 2 incubators, one has a 4 degree temp swing in it the other I used the bi-metal thermostat both hatch chicks. I use the quail egg trays (I raise quail to feed my falcons) and don't turn them religiously, sometimes only once a day. The chicks still hatch. Once I got called away and the humidity dropped way down, the eggs were not turned at all, the eggs still hatched. You really need to mess up, either cook the eggs or freeze them, not to have any hatch out. I did find out that the thermometers I bought are both off. If they read 99 degrees it is really only 97 degrees. That was my biggest problem I had, chicks were slow hatching, late, and some had foot problems. Once I figured out I needed to bump up the heat chicks hatch on time, popping right out of the egg and off to the races. Amazing little things, and tasty eggs too.
 
I was going to make changes to the incubator and when I got to it the bulb was out. The only other bulb I had was a 65w incandescent. I put it in there and adjusted the thermostat over the next day. I now have a 1 to 2 degree variance, some days I have no variance... Go figure. I put eggs in there a couple of days ago. It's too early to candle them, but I will post the hatch rates when the time comes.
 
After fussing and fussing with mine I made a change. I still have 2 light bulbs but they are now both on the thermostat. Works way better. They are both 25 watt and both are positioned very close to the thermostat and today they only varied a half a degree.

It will still work if one bulb burns out, the other will just come on for longer but should maintain the temp. I suppose I should take a bulb out and see how it does with one bulb alone to simulate a bulb burning out.

But I have eggs in it at day 7 and they show growth when candled. Will post pics if I hatch anything successfully. Otherwise back to the drawing board.
 
Hello,
Very interesting post. I currently build my own incubator. I have 2 x 40w buld and using stc1000 thermostate. At the moment my old thermometer is showimg 36.6 degree celcius.
Is it because i have mounted my fan right above in the middle of incubator.
 

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