Home made incubators and egg turners

[DoLittleMD]

Hi, I have a crappy homemade bator, but I am home so I can baby it. It definitely can be frustrating though as it tends to fluctuate at the worst times. But it hatches quail :-D

 

[DoLittleMD]

This may be an annoying question so I apologize in advance.....has anyone ever used a yogurt maker as an incubator? Yogurt makers are supposed to run at 100% F

 

[DoLittleMD]

YES!  I use the flashlight on my phone too (Galaxy S3)  Works great to candle eggs.  I just lay the egg right on the light and it works well.

Great minds lol

 

[farnorth]

Would you mind posting some pictures of your incubator so i can get some good ideas. Have u had any hatch from your home made incubator?

Yes, I hatched 6 out of 6 fertile eggs. They just hatched on Monday. The only ones that didn't hatch were the ones I removed because they were not fertile to begin with. I cracked them open to make sure.

It was a good thing I could be home during the hatch because the temp fluctuate at the wrong times, the Plexiglas window started to come undone around the edges when I raised the humidity...and the chicken wire I used to divide the hatching compartment from the light bulbs and water tray was too big and 2 chicks seemed determined to push through and try to get to the warmth of the light bulbs. but I pulled them out.

I will post some within the next day or so, as soon as I have some extra time to get the pictures online.

The one thing I would invest in is a very accurate thermometer/hygrometer with a probe. Without it I would never have been successful.

I bought the Incutherm Plus see link below

http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incubator-remote-thermometer-hygrometer.html

 

[Mister B]

My incubator humidity jumped to 75% today (about 1.5 weeks in). Can the humidity be too high?

 

[farnorth]

My incubator humidity jumped to 75% today (about 1.5 weeks in). Can the humidity be too high?

Yes It can be too high.....but a humidity spike isn't going to do any harm...but constant high humidity will...what you want to watch out for is the air cells must grow large enough by the 18th day for the chicks to pip into them and breath air. So the air cells can't be too small or the chick can drown. The way the air cells grow properly is for some of the moisture from inside the egg to evaporate through the shell....the only way that happens is if your humidity is low enough. You can open vent on the bator so long as temp doesn't drop or remove water in the water tray.

Candle and keep an eye on your air cells. Google for pictures of what your air cells progress should look like. If the air cells are not growing larger then try to lower humidity. As long as the air cells are growing normally don't worry too much if the humidity is a little high or low now and then.

During incubation I kept mine between 35 and 45 humidity (roughly) and at day 19 I raised it to 65% and then 75% on day 21 when a chick was zipping. If I had to open the bator during hatch I used a misting bottle of warm water to keep up the humidity and shut the lid quickly. (I had a couple suicidal chicks I had to rescue from trying to get into the light bulb/fan/water tray area).

I had no shrink wrapped chicks, no sticky chicks, no mushy chicks.

 

[Mister B]

What are mushy chicks?

 

[yuaan]

I desperate for some suggestiins. I have build styrofoam incubator and have installed stc1000 thermostate. It has .3 clicks. I set it to 37.5 so it goes up to 37.8 and then cooling mode starts and goes down till 37.2 and then thermostate kicks in again but 2 thermometers i have stats between 35.4 to 36.9 i am getting mad why i am not getting accurate temp. I have thermostate and thermometers probs on top on tge eggs . I am getting so ennoyed why there is a massive difference. Just to give u a bit info on my incubator.
I have 2x 40w bulds and the fan is right at top in the middle on incybator and the eggs underneat.
Any suggestion what may be wrong?

 

[Mister B]

First, where is the thermostat in relation to the bulbs and the top/bottom of the incubator? Since heat rises, I put the light near the bottom of the incubator. I also isolate the thermostat from direct light. I put mine in a recept box (one of those blue boxes they use for electrical work) and drilled some holes in the side for air flow. Then I attached my fan to the side of the box to draw air across the thermostat. I positioned my thermostat near the top of the incubator. Also, I use two quart mason jars of water to work as heat sinks. The water absorbs heat energy and releases it when the light is off. A brick would work the same, but I need water in there for humidity. I will try to remember to put some pictures up tonight.

 

[aprophet]

My incubator humidity jumped to 75% today (about 1.5 weeks in). Can the humidity be too high?

not for quail I run as much as I can constantly I turn the egg turner off for lockdown when it is straight up and down