Homemade incubator hatching experiment!

[Caitlin89]

So i am pet sitting for a friend this past week and she is letting me keep whatever eggs i collect from her chooks. She has a sussex barnyard mix rooster in with her hens, although only 1 hen lays(RIR) thats still 1 egg a day (6 eggs because she didn't lay the first day). I decided since i dont have a broody hen and cant afford to buy an incubator, ill try and make an incubator, the simplest one possible.
So i did, i took a plastic office box, a lamp with a 70 watt bulb, a container of water and some tape. I cut a small hole in the lid for the lamps cord to go through then taped over the hole. The lamp is bendable so i bent it over so it was directly above the eggs, I then made a circle barrier thing from some masking tape and put it in the middle of the box to put the eggs in so they dont roll around. After that i put in a small container of water and marked the eggs and put them in. I shut the lid and taped it down and turned on the lamp, it got pretty hot quickly which im happy about. I also wrote the date on the lid so i can keep track of the incubation.
I do NOT expect this to work, its PURELY an experiment so if it works, more chookies for me!(and i might order some purebred fertile eggs to try), if it starts but fails well atleast i know the incubator works a little and that the eggs were definitely 100% fertile and if it doesn't work at all, oh well atleast i tried! I really hope it works though lol!! If this works i will invest in a thermostat etc and try to improve the incubator.
So what do you think? Will it work? I hope so!(but i dont expect it to).
Ill make sure to update this thread along the way!

 

[Stacyoung13]

So i am pet sitting for a friend this past week and she is letting me keep whatever eggs i collect from her chooks. She has a sussex barnyard mix rooster in with her hens, although only 1 hen lays(RIR) thats still 1 egg a day (6 eggs because she didn't lay the first day). I decided since i dont have a broody hen and cant afford to buy an incubator, ill try and make an incubator, the simplest one possible.
So i did, i took a plastic office box, a lamp with a 70 watt bulb, a container of water and some tape. I cut a small hole in the lid for the lamps cord to go through then taped over the hole. The lamp is bendable so i bent it over so it was directly above the eggs, I then made a circle barrier thing from some masking tape and put it in the middle of the box to put the eggs in so they dont roll around. After that i put in a small container of water and marked the eggs and put them in. I shut the lid and taped it down and turned on the lamp, it got pretty hot quickly which im happy about. I also wrote the date on the lid so i can keep track of the incubation.
I do NOT expect this to work, its PURELY an experiment so if it works, more chookies for me!(and i might order some purebred fertile eggs to try), if it starts but fails well atleast i know the incubator works a little and that the eggs were definitely 100% fertile and if it doesn't work at all, oh well atleast i tried! I really hope it works though lol!! If this works i will invest in a thermostat etc and try to improve the incubator.
So what do you think? Will it work? I hope so!(but i dont expect it to).
Ill make sure to update this thread along the way!

Do you have a thermometer and hygrometer in there to keep eye on temp and humidity? Don’t forget to turn your eggs at least 3 times a day. Good luck with your experiment keep us posted

 

[Caitlin89]

Do you have a thermometer and hygrometer in there to keep eye on temp and humidity? Don’t forget to turn your eggs at least 3 times a day. Good luck with your experiment keep us posted

Not yet, i plan on getting one later on. I know you should have one in there and it should be a certain temperature etc etc but this is just a minimalistic experiment, IF it works(which i very much doubt but hope it does), i will invest in a hygrometer etc and try to improve it as best i can(i already have some ideas!) And yes ive been turning them 4-5 times a day. ill also order in some purebreed fertile eggs to try. And yes i will be updating this thread regularly, infact...
UPDATE! i put in 2 more eggs, marked them and wrote it on the lid. These were the 2 that i tried to put in the nest box to encourage my hen to brood but that didn't work so, into the "incubator". Day 2 for the first 3 eggs, 5 more days to go before the first candle! I may just candle the other 2 aswell because im impatient lol. Fingers crossed theres something!! X

 

[cmom]

A 70 watt bulb might be too hot. Definitely check the temperature.
This is a homemade incubator/hatcher I made from a styrofoam cooler as an experiment. It works great. I used 2 - 15 watt incandescent bulbs. I put a fan in to blow across the bulbs to circulate the heat and a wafer thermostat in to control the temperature. Originally I had a dimmer switch in to regulate the temperature but eventually replaced it with the wafer thermostat.

I took the chicks out before I took this picture.

 

[Bantamgirl715]

My daughter and I built an incubator out of two 7w reptile heating pads, a wire basket and a tea towel. Hatched 3/6 eggs. I hope you have good success, although at least a thermometer might have been a big advantage.

 

[Bantamgirl715]

It looks like you had a great hatch! I love how it sort of looks like a Flintstones Hovabator. I mean that as a compliment, it almost looks like you could buy it in a store!

 

[cmom]

It looks like you had a great hatch! I love how it sort of looks like a Flintstones Hovabator. I mean that as a compliment, it almost looks like you could buy it in a store!

I did modify it. Originally I put one bulb in the bottom with a fan blowing across the bulb but once during incubation the bulb burned out so I modified it with two bulbs in case one should burn out which has happened but only once or twice. It was mostly made from things I had so I didn't have to spend any money.

 

[cmom]

This was the original.

 

[Caitlin89]

Aww this gives me hope!! Purely out of curiosity i did check the temp with a handheld child thermometer which showed 35.8 to 37.6(celcius) I just adjusted everything until it stayed at 37.6. So i guess ill use that until (fingerd crossed!) Hatch day. After that i will definitely spend some money on this thing! I was hoping i could get a hen to go broody but it didnt happen, it is coming into winter anyway so it wasn't likely to begin with. But so far so good! I can't wait for day 7 to candle these and see if anything is happening!!

 

[Stacyoung13]

Where are you located? Almost winter?