How to incubate in a house that isn't climate controlled?

[Redhead Rae]

I have to incubators I cobbled together, you can read about that project in the Franken-bator link below. The trouble I'm having now is that my incubators are having a hard time regulating temperature. I live in an old farm house without climate controls. In the cooler weather it was easier because we have gas heaters that we can use to regulate how cold the house is, but during the summer our breaker box can't handle more than a couple small window air conditioners. So it gets hot during the day and cool at night. A couple of days last week it was in the upper 80s during the day and in the 50s at night. This caused the incubators to get too hot and too cold. My Brinsea Ovation has so far stood up well to the temperature swings. I'm thinking we may have to move the incubators into our already chock full bedroom/office which is one of the only rooms that has air conditioning.

Does anyone else incubate in a house that doesn't have climate controls?

 

[The Moonshiner]

I do.
We use a couple space heaters and burn wood in the winter and window a.c. in bedrooms only during summer.
I use hovabators and they work pretty well with the temp swings.
In the winter if it gets really cold I've had them struggle to get up to temps but that isn't but a few days a year.
In the summer they do fine.
I think the styrofoam is best for my situation and a reliable thermostat made for incubators imo work best in every situation.
I use the old wafer style ones.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I do.
We use a couple space heaters and burn wood in the winter and window a.c. in bedrooms only during summer.
I use hovabators and they work pretty well with the temp swings.
In the winter if it gets really cold I've had them struggle to get up to temps but that isn't but a few days a year.
In the summer they do fine.
I think the styrofoam is best for my situation and a reliable thermostat made for incubators imo work best in every situation.
I use the old wafer style ones.

Sounds like I'll be hatching eggs in my bedroom this summer then..... For now, I'll use my Brinsea for starting eggs and the Franken-bators for hatching/chick hospitals. Even if I incubate fewer eggs, I think I'll hatch more in the end. This last hatch started with 11 eggs, only 4 made it to lock down and only one pipped. I needed to help it extensively and it had malformed legs. I had to cull it today. That was the hardest thing I've done since I slaughtered/butchered my first rooster.

 

[lazy gardener]

I hatch in home made bators, one with digital and one with bimetal thermostat. Heat with wood, so lots of temp fluctuation. Have managed by keeping bators in most stable rooms (temp wise) and snuggling a blanket up around them at night. My hatch rates are usually low 90s %. I consider high 80s % to be a poor hatch rate for me.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I hatch in home made bators, one with digital and one with bimetal thermostat. Heat with wood, so lots of temp fluctuation. Have managed by keeping bators in most stable rooms (temp wise) and snuggling a blanket up around them at night. My hatch rates are usually low 90s %. I consider high 80s % to be a poor hatch rate for me.

I think my main problem now now is that it is getting hotter. How do you deal with summer temps?

 

[lazy gardener]

I live in MAINE!!! While summer temps do often get uncomfortably warm, I think if I was incubating at that time of the year, I'd put my bator in my basement which stays fairly cool. I might have to run a dehumidifier if I did that. My preferred choice is to incubate in the spring. I don't think summer temps would be very problematic as long as you have a good thermostat.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I live in MAINE!!! While summer temps do often get uncomfortably warm, I think if I was incubating at that time of the year, I'd put my bator in my basement which stays fairly cool. I might have to run a dehumidifier if I did that. My preferred choice is to incubate in the spring. I don't think summer temps would be very problematic as long as you have a good thermostat.

I don't have a basement :-/ I'm trying to hatch as many Dark Cornish as I can this year because I only have a trio for my foundation generation.