Homemade incubator~help!

[animallover505]

wow, congrats!

 

[lnlfarms]

I am having trouble with my homemade incubator as well and already have a post on backyard chicken if anyone can help and offer suggestions I would appreciate it! Post is at
Need HELP on fridge incubator

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/682018/need-help-on-fridge-incubator#post_9221105

 

[kg7il]

I also wanted to hatch eggs and was turned off by the prices of what seemed to be a simple device.

I decided to build one. It has worked great.

I pretty much followed plans from a book. Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&key...h=n:283155,k:storeys+guide+to+raising+poultry

I purchased a fairly good electronic thermometer/ hygometer with a probe.
http://www.extech.com/instruments/product.asp?catid=38&prodid=177

• Just recently I bought a therm/hygro from Home Depot for $9.99 and it correlates well with the $56 dollar one.
• I'd try the Home Depot one to save cost. http://www.acurite.com/weather/humidity.html Mine is the 00619 (shown here for $12.99)

The 3122 thermostat was a good deal. It had the bracket, wafer and switch that could be used directly with the light bulbs (120v 22A)
http://www.cutlersupply.com/cart/in...ducts_id=307&zenid=h771l1gheuq7b3vvvdc4n34rc2
Cutler had it cheaper than anyone else, and their service / delivery was great.

I used a small 12v fan from an electronic device that had broken. It is powered by an AC adapter for another broken device. I had to make a mounting bracket for the fan, but it circulates nicely.

I still have some work to do on my manual egg turner, but I think I'll get it working fine. (works with chicken size eggs, but duck eggs hang up)


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/659918/homemade-incubator-help#post_8907653

I thought I should add that I found an aluminum (disposable) cooking tray that fit great. In that aluminum tray I have a low profile plastic bowl about 6" in diameter. I arrived at that size after trial and error on surface area to humidity levels.

 

[Builderofempire]

I think alot of people dont give eggs enough credit. A hen always gets off her eggs to eat and drink so the temp will drop. We have hatched a few eggs in our homemade incubator with great results. Almost 100 percent hatch rate. We even helped one out of its egg and the chick is doing great. We used a 8 dollar theremostat from lowes and a cpu fan. Kept 60 percent humidity until day 18 we increased to 80 percent humidity. The more eggs you hatch the better you will get and see what works. I have seen farmers hatch eggs in cardboard boxes with nothing more than a light. A fan inside your incubator makes a huge diff. We now have 32 eggs inside our little incubator and we candle them almost everyday. Three of which are turkey eggs. All of our eggs are developing great. I might not be a expert at hatching eggs but I know what has worked for us. Glad to hear you had 18 eggs hatch