Homemade incubator hatchalong

[kittycat1356]

I recently lost my favorite hen to no idea what, maybe cold, maybe cat maybe opposum. I was devastated to the point I considered selling my entire flock because she was my top favorite and the others were just to keep her company.
Since I lost her it gave rise to some of the more love-neglected chickens, who ended up being just as sweet as her, so it’s not a 100% loss.

The hen I lost was a brabanter hen, and the breed isnt too common to come upon. She was probably a mix but I loved her anyway. I whipped up a styrofoam incubator with a similar design I’ve used before and had very successful hatches before. (Better than the Chinese incubator with yellow lid, but I liked that one for its ease of use and how many it could hatch)

This incubator can only hatch maybe 15-20 eggs if they are small enough.

I got 2 brabanter roosters and 12 eggs, I let them settle and warm to room temp, and put them in the incubator with a handful of my recent eggs. (I hope I get a hen in color of my EE rooster cause I have too many roosters now and I don’t care for him as much, he’s too insecure and has been crowing his head off.)

I’ll be turning them when I remember, a few times a day. Usually 3-7 times. I will be incubating dry until 3 days before hatch I will boost humidity to as high as I can get it.
I lower the temp by pulling out a cut out piece. Labeled for my ease for putting them back if it gets too cold and I don’t have to puzzle piece them together. It’s held 99°f-100°f for about a week now so I think it’s ready. It will loose heat when I open to turn them, but I can just plug the holes for a minute or two to bring it back up to temp.

My incubator ingredients are:
Small styrofoam cooler 2-3$
Plug socket I think it was 5- $
USB port 1$
USB fan 5-7$
Extension cord 3$?
Bags of sand from 1$ tree 3$
Probably put them onto a wash cloth soon so they aren’t sandy when they hatch 2~$
40watt Light bulb 2$ (25-35 watts work too)
20$ for the eggs.
AND.
1 plastic piece, mine came from a 3d printer viewing window I don’t use, but like a plastic cookie tin or something works too. My last one had a glass window from a 50¢ Picture frame I bought used. dollar tree has them too 1$~
And tape 3$?
A lot of the stuff I already had, or bought some things a while ago so it wasn’t exactly expensive.


We will see how this turns out, I’ll be happy if only one hen hatches, but if I fail, the man I bought them from is setting his own eggs in the incubator in about a week and will sell chicks.

 

[Nyla]

Here is mine:
Currently on day 10 for my Muscovy's Eggs.
Before and after setup:
(Pictures were taken the day I put my eggs in the bator)

 

[Kiki]

View attachment 1329248 View attachment 1329249 View attachment 1329251 I recently lost my favorite hen to no idea what, maybe cold, maybe cat maybe opposum. I was devastated to the point I considered selling my entire flock because she was my top favorite and the others were just to keep her company.
Since I lost her it gave rise to some of the more love-neglected chickens, who ended up being just as sweet as her, so it’s not a 100% loss.

The hen I lost was a brabanter hen, and the breed isnt too common to come upon. She was probably a mix but I loved her anyway. I whipped up a styrofoam incubator with a similar design I’ve used before and had very successful hatches before. (Better than the Chinese incubator with yellow lid, but I liked that one for its ease of use and how many it could hatch)

This incubator can only hatch maybe 15-20 eggs if they are small enough.

I got 2 brabanter roosters and 12 eggs, I let them settle and warm to room temp, and put them in the incubator with a handful of my recent eggs. (I hope I get a hen in color of my EE rooster cause I have too many roosters now and I don’t care for him as much, he’s too insecure and has been crowing his head off.)

I’ll be turning them when I remember, a few times a day. Usually 3-7 times. I will be incubating dry until 3 days before hatch I will boost humidity to as high as I can get it.
I lower the temp by pulling out a cut out piece. Labeled for my ease for putting them back if it gets too cold and I don’t have to puzzle piece them together. It’s held 99°f-100°f for about a week now so I think it’s ready. It will loose heat when I open to turn them, but I can just plug the holes for a minute or two to bring it back up to temp.

My incubator ingredients are:
Small styrofoam cooler 2-3$
Plug socket I think it was 5- $
USB port 1$
USB fan 5-7$
Extension cord 3$?
Bags of sand from 1$ tree 3$
Probably put them onto a wash cloth soon so they aren’t sandy when they hatch 2~$
40watt Light bulb 2$ (25-35 watts work too)
20$ for the eggs.
AND.
1 plastic piece, mine came from a 3d printer viewing window I don’t use, but like a plastic cookie tin or something works too. My last one had a glass window from a 50¢ Picture frame I bought used. dollar tree has them too 1$~
And tape 3$?
A lot of the stuff I already had, or bought some things a while ago so it wasn’t exactly expensive.


We will see how this turns out, I’ll be happy if only one hen hatches, but if I fail, the man I bought them from is setting his own eggs in the incubator in about a week and will sell chicks.

No thermostat?

 

[kittycat1356]

Here is mine:
Currently on day 10 for my Muscovy's Eggs.
Before and after setup:
(Pictures were taken the day I put my eggs in the bator)
View attachment 1329265 View attachment 1329266 View attachment 1329267 View attachment 1329268 View attachment 1329269 View attachment 1329270 View attachment 1329271 View attachment 1329272 View attachment 1329273 View attachment 1329274 View attachment 1329275 View attachment 1329276 View attachment 1329277 View attachment 1329278 View attachment 1329279 View attachment 1329280 View attachment 1329281 View attachment 1329283 View attachment 1329284 View attachment 1329285 View attachment 1329286 View attachment 1329287 View attachment 1329288 View attachment 1329289

No thermostat?

No idea where to get one, how to set it to right temp, or how to get it hooked up lol.

The bulb I have can get to 114ish. after I turn on the usb fan it’s more around 105+ and the little holes I can plug up and open though I found the sweet spot of 99-100 and the occasional 102 if the temp in the room raises too much.
I’ve had decent success with a similar incubator 2 years ago. I had 15 quail eggs, one broke, 3 were quitters and 2 were infertle (the one that broke had no signs of growth either).
I also had 18 button quail eggs, I can’t remember the statistics of those that hatched but it was also pretty high. Above 12 chicks.

And to top it all off, the incubator was brought in the car for a 4hr drive to a hotel stayed there for 3 days and drove back another 4 hours. At one point the incubator reached 113 and I thought it was all over, but I did get an okay hatch imo

 

[kittycat1356]

Here is mine:
Currently on day 10 for my Muscovy's Eggs.
Before and after setup:
(Pictures were taken the day I put my eggs in the bator)
View attachment 1329265 View attachment 1329266 View attachment 1329267 View attachment 1329268 View attachment 1329269 View attachment 1329270 View attachment 1329271 View attachment 1329272 View attachment 1329273 View attachment 1329274 View attachment 1329275 View attachment 1329276 View attachment 1329277 View attachment 1329278 View attachment 1329279 View attachment 1329280 View attachment 1329281 View attachment 1329283 View attachment 1329284 View attachment 1329285 View attachment 1329286 View attachment 1329287 View attachment 1329288 View attachment 1329289

Wow! I could never manage to make something that big! When I wanted to upgrade my homemade last incubator I just bought the cheap Chinese one 60$. It’s hatch rate wasn’t the best, but it did give me decent hatches sometimes (80-90%) could have just been my eggs. (Some were pretty old)

My mom ended up burning a hole through the bottom, I used it as a little brooder and she always messed with the lamp telling me it was gonna fall, and she ended up making it fall, go figure.

 

[Kiki]

No idea where to get one, how to set it to right temp, or how to get it hooked up lol.

The bulb I have can get to 114ish. after I turn on the usb fan it’s more around 105+ and the little holes I can plug up and open though I found the sweet spot of 99-100 and the occasional 102 if the temp in the room raises too much.
I’ve had decent success with a similar incubator 2 years ago. I had 15 quail eggs, one broke, 3 were quitters and 2 were infertle (the one that broke had no signs of growth either).
I also had 18 button quail eggs, I can’t remember the statistics of those that hatched but it was also pretty high. Above 12 chicks.

And to top it all off, the incubator was brought in the car for a 4hr drive to a hotel stayed there for 3 days and drove back another 4 hours. At one point the incubator reached 113 and I thought it was all over, but I did get an okay hatch imo

I bought this one:

https://www.chewy.com/zilla-terrari...Vj7fsCh2keQOUEAQYASABEgL0AvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Kiki]

Did you calibrate your thermometers?

 

[Nyla]

You should see my current incubator build! Even bigger!

Wow! I could never manage to make something that big! When I wanted to upgrade my homemade last incubator I just bought the cheap Chinese one 60$. It’s hatch rate wasn’t the best, but it did give me decent hatches sometimes (80-90%) could have just been my eggs. (Some were pretty old)

My mom ended up burning a hole through the bottom, I used it as a little brooder and she always messed with the lamp telling me it was gonna fall, and she ended up making it fall, go figure.

 

[kittycat1356]

Did you calibrate your thermometers?

I only have the one in there, but I want to buy another to make sure that one is reading the right temp. It has an auto calibration thing but idk how accurate it is

 

[lazy gardener]

You can calibrate your submersible thermometer in a cup of warm water with a medical grade thermometer. Get your water around 100*, put both thermometers in, but don't let them touch the bottom or sides of the container, wait for them to stabalize, and then check the difference. Most medical thermometers are guaranteed to be accurate to .2*F.

Rush Lane Poultry has lots of how to videos for wiring a thermostat. You can buy a good digital thermostat for around $10.00.