Homemade incubator

[Rivergirl06]

Hello, I'm new here and I have several questions. I bought a incubator set it up and let it run for 24 hrs before putting eggs in, I candled them on day 10 and there was no life in them, you could see they tried but failed to develop. So I tossed them out thinking maybe I done something wrong, I bought more eggs and after 2 days I noticed the temp wasn't staying at a certain level. It would go up and down so I built an incubator using a card board box. I got the temp up to 99 and the humidity at 60 percent, it stayed pretty accurate for 3 hrs, so I decided to transport the eggs which have been in the incubator for 3 days to my homemade one, during this transition I noticed the eggs were cool to the touch so I put X's and 0's on them and set them in my incubator and the temp dropped to 94 degrees. It's been 3 hrs and it's only gotten back up to 97 degrees. Did I do the right thing in moving them after 3 days ? It says the heart starts beating at this time. Please can someone help me, have I killed the chicks ?

 

[GreedySeedFeedy]

It really depends on the breed of bird you have in those eggs whether a 3 degree drop in temps will kill them, but may I suggest using a glass or acrylic aquarium or, even better, a styrofoam cooler to make your incubator with? In my experience, cardboard sucks up your humidity like nobody's business, and it sounds like you are having a pretty severe insulation problem. Does your incubator have a fan and a thermostat?

 

[Rivergirl06]

It really depends on the breed of bird you have in those eggs whether a 3 degree drop in temps will kill them, but may I suggest using a glass or acrylic aquarium or, even better, a styrofoam cooler to make your incubator with? In my experience, cardboard sucks up your humidity like nobody's business, and it sounds like you are having a pretty severe insulation problem. Does your incubator have a fan and a thermostat?

The one I bought does, the cardboard box one is a still incubator. And finally after 4 hrs got the temp at a steady 100 degrees Should I move the eggs out and put them back in the incubator with the fan and hope for the best ? I don't know what to do I had a bowl of water under the light but the glass window had condensation on it so I took it out.

 

[feedman77]

If you had condensation you were probably at 90 percent plus humidity.

What kind of incubator did you buy? I've found it's best to have accurate thermometers in them to check the temp to make sure the incubator thermometer is correct. They can be off.

What I would do is keep them in your homemade incubator. Get a 2nd thermometer and get your bought incubator lined out to the temps you want then move eggs back to it.

 

[Rivergirl06]

If you had condensation you were probably at 90 percent plus humidity.

What kind of incubator did you buy? I've found it's best to have accurate thermometers in them to check the temp to make sure the incubator thermometer is correct. They can be off.

What I would do is keep them in your homemade incubator. Get a 2nd thermometer and get your bought incubator lined out to the temps you want then move eggs back to it.

The home made temp got to 102 I opened the air holes up to let the heat down till it reached 98 degrees. I turned the incubator up I bought to 40 celsius and the temp is holding at 91 degrees. I put a water bowl back in the cardboard box and now I got condensation on the window. I'm scared they might have died, there now at 4 days of incubation.

 

[feedman77]

If the homemade is still air 102 wouldn't hurt. They are still early in the process getting cool not as bad as you hot.

If the temp is correct on the incubator display you are at 100.4 f.

Give them a. Chance to are pretty resilient.

 

[Rivergirl06]

If the homemade is still air 102 wouldn't hurt. They are still early in the process getting cool not as bad as you hot.

If the temp is correct on the incubator display you are at 100.4 f.

Give them a. Chance to are pretty resilient.
[/QUOT Thank you, here is a photo of the incubator I made, the temp is coming back up. If I have to I'll keep adding vent holes till the temp stabilizes. When Is the best time to candle them to check for life ?

 

[cmom]

I have never had an incubator like yours but have seen them and the people I know that have used them have had good luck with them. I made one out of a styrofoam cooler and it works great. I put two 15 watt incandescent bulbs in for heat. I originally had one bulb but it burnt out one night when I was about 2 weeks into incubation so I later modified it and put two bulbs in it with a fan and a wafer thermostat. Works great.

 

[Rivergirl06]

I have never had an incubator like yours but have seen them and the people I know that have used them have had good luck with them. I made one out of a styrofoam cooler and it works great. I put two 15 watt incandescent bulbs in for heat. I originally had one bulb but it burnt out one night when I was about 2 weeks into incubation so I later modified it and put two bulbs in it with a fan and a wafer thermostat. Works great.View attachment 2086752View attachment 2086769View attachment 2086774

The incubator has no place for lights, I built a homemade one out of cardboard box using a 40 watt bulb, temp seems to be hovering around 99 to 102 with the humidity at 61 percent. As far as the one I bought has a fan not sure where the heat comes from but I can't get it over 91 degrees. Into day 4 of incubation, I'm hoping at day 7 I can candle them and see life.. you got some cute babies

 

[cmom]

Not in the incubator but maybe a styrofoam cooler. I bought a couple of lamp holders I needed for the light bulbs. Originally I put a dimmer switch to control the heat but it was finicky. As the daytime and nighttime temperatures fluctuate some, so did the incubator with the dimmer switch so I opted for the wafer thermostat. Under $10.