How Do I Keep the Temp Stable?

[chloezoebob101]

I made my own incubator tonight and were having a hard time keeping the temperature Stable. Any advice?

 

[Rainwolf]

I made my own incubator tonight and were having a hard time keeping the temperature Stable. Any advice?

do you have photos of your homemade incubator? how is the vents? where is the element? where are you keeping the incubator?

 

[quintinp]

Yes, pictures would be very helpful. I would like to help, but a brief description is at least needed. I have a cooler incubator, and I use a modified water heater thermostat to control the temperature, and I also have a mini fridge incubator, and I am using a wafer thermostat for temperature control.

 

[chloezoebob101]

i have some photos but it is just a strofoam box with a light punched into it. we don't have vents... am i supposed to? whats an element? and in our office

 

[pawtraitart]

A heat sink might help such as a couple sealed jars of water. I put two mason jars of water in my duck incubator/hatcher and it seems to help keep the temps stable.

 

[chloezoebob101]

i don't have sealed jars, but i have jars that i could put i lid on..

 

[quintinp]

To keep the temperature stable, you will want to go to your nearest hardware store and get a water heater thermostat. After you get the water heater thermostat you will want to wire it to the lamp. As in the diagram.
If you notice in this diagram, it has 3 black dots on the thermostat, these black dots represent where to drill holes into the thermostat, (the purpose of drilling the holes is to make the thermostat react quicker to changes in temperature, and instead of a 4 degree temperature variance, you get a 1 degree temperature variance.)

Here is a step-by-step video on how to drill the holes into the thermostat.

It is a very simple process. After you have wired your thermostat to the light, you will want to locate the thermostat with the back side (the metal side) facing the light bulb, and keep the thermostat within 1 1/2 inch away from the light.

You will also want to mount a fan in the incubator. A cheap way for me was to get a small 12 volt computer fan, and 12 volt adaptor or (cellphone charger.), and wire it to the computer fan. Here is a diagram.



I use a plastic cooler, here are the pictures of my incubator.



The screw driver is to control the thermostat from the outside of the incubator.






The orange funnel, and the tube, is to add water to the incubator during "Lock Down", from the outside of the incubator.


My egg turner is made of PVC pipe, and PVC joints and connectors. I then screwed hardware cloth to the bottom of the egg turner, and
Walla! I had an egg turner that I would be able to tilt the eggs all at once without opening the incubator.







This is how it works. Note; (the first picture was taken before I made my last adjustments to the incubator.)

 

[chloezoebob101]

wait a second. i just went back to check the temp and its stable!!! YAY

 

[DangerChickenHouse]

I also have a small foam cooler and a light bulb. I had to switch out a lot of bulbs before I got one that was correct. I also slit hole in the side of the cooler to help with high temps. I filled a bread bowl up with water to help humidity - I laid hardware cloth over the top just in case a chick got too close.

 

[chloezoebob101]

I also have a small foam cooler and a light bulb. I had to switch out a lot of bulbs before I got one that was correct. I also slit hole in the side of the cooler to help with high temps. I filled a bread bowl up with water to help humidity - I laid hardware cloth over the top just in case a chick got too close.

Thanks! do you have good turn outs? and how big was the slit?