Homemade incubator, Excalibur food dehydrator

[UThobbyfarmer]

I read just enough information on homemade incubators to give myself ideas. Since I had an old food dehydrator (Excalibur) hanging around I thought I'd give it a go.

Basically just turned it on. Bought an Acurite humidity monitor from Walmart. Then spent 1 day stabilizing the temp. Popped in 20 eggs. 10 from my mixed flock. 5 bantam, 5 larger chicken eggs from a local chicken guy. I'm hand turning several times a day.

The good: Temperature has been rock solid, 99 degrees. The dehydrator settings are in 10 degree increments. Once that was adjusted (through minute tinkering) it's been reliable.

The bad: Humidity has been very difficult to maintain. It's been in the 20-30% range. Ideally I'd have dialed this in before adding eggs but I was way too impatient to get started. I've got a few ideas. Leaving it along and dry incubating. Adding a large drywall type sponge (currently using small cookie trays). Adding a humidifier to the current room and/or moving the unit to a spare bathroom.

Overall I'm out $9 on the Acurite meter and $3 for hatching eggs. The chicken guy I got eggs from said "you'll be lucky to hatch out anything". Not the most positive comment but I'm staying optimistic. Planning on candling in 7 or so days. I'll post updates here on any success or failures.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

 

[paneubert]

At first I was like "genius"... a food dehydrator has great fans and heating ability. But then I was like "but the entire point of a dehydrator is to remove all the moisture/humidity". So I suppose that is my comment. You are going to need to go way overboard on adding water and sponges and stuff if you want to keep the humidity up. If I recall my dehydrating days, you want to get the moisture content down to less than 5% in the food you dehydrate, and those machines can do it. So they are really good at lowering humidity....

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Yes, you hit on the greatest challenge so far. Humidity. I've got it to 30's but is difficult to maintain there.

From what I can tell the 2 biggest differences, between dehydrator and incubator, are the thermostat and the door of the dehydrator. The thermostat adjustment took about a day. Then another adjustment with the increase in humidity. It only dropped to 97* for a couple hours so I don't think it'll affect the eggs. The door has a 1/4" gap on both sides and bottom. I have a towel draped on the front as a temporary fix. Next week I plan to make an acrylic or glass panel for the front. It'll fit snug to the front and hopefully improve humidity. I've thought about cutting a hole in the existing door and covering it with acrylic. That will be helpful during lock down but not solve the humidity probably.

Thank you for taking the time to post. Keep an eye out for this post as I'll post regularly with updates.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Day 2. Just for fun I decided to candle the eggs today. I was surprised and excited to see some strong development in quite a few eggs. In 3 with white/cream shells I could clearly see changes. 1 leghorn and 2 bantams. The picture is of the bantam egg. What fun!

On a sad note my daughter cracked a blue EE egg with over zealous turning. It's not a deep crack. I wanted to open to check development but my distraught kiddo wanted the repair option. We sealed it with birthday candle wax. I don't have high hopes but I'll candle it daily for changes.

 

[darkbluespace]

I think it's brilliant! I have made several incubators, from styrofoam to cabinet and a couple oddities inbetween. I never thought of a dehydrator. Mine is kind of noisy, but I have heard of people using a hair dryer for heat in a cabinet. Humidity at 20 to 30% is pretty perfect. Surely you could add more water if you wanted it higher? I have a hard time getting my humidity low enough to hatch my duck and Silkie eggs so dryer is better for pretty much all of my eggs... depends on one's climate of course!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Thank you for the encouragement, darkbluespace. Whether or not it's successful I'm having a wonderful time playing around with it. I've decided to weigh the eggs daily. If they're dropping too quickly I've got a few ideas. But for now I've relaxed on the humidity quite a bit. The fact I'm already seeing development speaks for itself.

Sounds like you've had your share of incubator adventures. A hairdryer?! I know you said that was hearsay but that's crazy. What do you currently use?

 

[MonicaWA]

I have had a repaired egg hatch just fine. Hopefully you will too.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

That's great to hear. What did you use for the repair? What day did it crack on?

 

[Akrnaf2]

View attachment 1086173

2 problems :
1. You are turning manually that means that the dore is open for long periods several times a day =loosing all that humidity accumulated.
You can bild a simple manual turner that you can use from the outside (you will need to drill one little hole on the side)
2. Don't think that you have enough ventilation holes.

About the humidity the most important factor is the surface of the
Water tray. More trays, sponge and you can use an aquarium air pump that pumps air into the water, it will help to raise the humidity levels.

See this