Homemade or Storebought Bators?

[wordgirl]

Which is more economical/better/easier: a homemade incubator, or a storebought one? I'm thinking about hatching a few (2-3) chicks sometime, but know little about the subject.

And is this totally ridiculous, or can you simply steal some eggs from under a broody at hatching time?

Thanks so much!

 

[Junkmanme]

You know somthin.........

It REALLY doesn't matter.

WHAT DOES MATTER is this:

Temperature has got to be right!

Humidity has got to be right!

Idiot running it has got to do the studying to be RIGHT!

other than that, I s'pose it don't matter at all.

just one dumb "hicks" opinion....

_Junkmanme-

P.S. I FAILED miserably with my "homemade incubator". BUT, I learned enuf through the failure...that I KNOW the next "homemade" will work fine! (I could and would have failed just as completely with a "store-bought".} One broody hen of mine only hatched 1 of 6 ..she was a beginner, too!

 

[silkie freak 22]

well i really hate the store bought ones, but making one is a challenge. i would just wait till the hen goes broody and put then eggs under her that you want hatched. i wouldnt take the eggs from her until they hatch.

 

[wordgirl]

silkie freak, do you think it would be alright if the broody had ten eggs or so that she was sitting on, and I took two or three of them? Would she mind? I would like to raise a couple in the house, with them thinking I was their mother.

 

[killer]

just let her hatch them and go out and take 2 or 3 away from her. then you can raise them 2 or 3.

 

[walkswithdog]

If you snag them the day they hatch - you can take them and raise them.

But then you don't learn about incubating and don't have an incubator and if disaster ever strikes, and it does with some frequency - you won't be ready. You'll have to come here in a panic and read it all, learn it all and buy or make the incubator in a day.

I hatched with broodies. Then broodies made mistakes, or got snagged by predators and voila eggs and no parent, or damaged eggs needing careful handling.

Having an incubator and knowing how saves a world of grief, panic and remorse when you need one immediately. While I have broodies - there is always one incubator running in my house. If something happens, I have a place to immediately move a damaged but viable egg, an injured hatchling or an orphaned group of eggs.

I hatch in a homemade. I had an LG - one of the little foam ones and learned to work it, but didn't like the design. Because better ones than the LG cost more, I built one. Then learning from that went on to build another. The current one is Darthbator, a black mini-fridge bator. It's delightful. I got the non-working mini-fridge free off freecycle. I had the parts from the previous bator and from recycling the fridges fans.

Cheap to make, easy to use, works like a charm. And is there if I need it. I hatched out about 80 chicks and poults in it this spring.

Knowing HOW, having what you need available for an emergency... priceless.