How to make a homemade cheap incubator?

[PD-Riverman]

Ughhhh!!! ... The styrofoam one TSC has.

Farm innovations 4250

The incubator seems to hatch ok as Long as the owners forget the readings on the built in meter and add a better meter inside. I was at TSC one morning setting there running my mouth for about a hour and 3 different people brought them back--in that one hour-----I found out a lot more brought them back at that one store X all the Stores in the world----That's a lot. I got a friend that bought 3 from a store 2 hrs away in her home area-------she lost 3 full loads of eggs----none hatched---some she payed $12 to $24 per dozen----she Never thought of checking the built in meters. She was furious and tried to get the Manufactor to pay for the eggs---Did not work. I am serious when it comes to hatching---I check all meters against known correct meters and I told the friend she should have checked---she said they were brand new they should have been right----Naw!! Gotta check those meters.

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

The incubator seems to hatch ok as Long as the owners forget the readings on the built in meter and add a better meter inside. I was at TSC one morning setting there running my mouth for about a hour and 3 different people brought them back--in that one hour-----I found out a lot more brought them back at that one store X all the Stores in the world----That's a lot. I got a friend that bought 3 from a store 2 hrs away in her home area-------she lost 3 full loads of eggs----none hatched---some she payed $12 to $24 per dozen----she Never thought of checking the built in meters. She was furious and tried to get the Manufactor to pay for the eggs---Did not work. I am serious when it comes to hatching---I check all meters against known correct meters and I told the friend she should have checked---she said they were brand new they should have been right----Naw!! Gotta check those meters.

This makes me feel a little bit better because I went with my gut instinct and decided to believe/use the first inside thermometer, (after I checked out with a brand new thermometer), and I had been worried because it took the built in thermometer to be at 103.5 for the inside one to say 99.5

 

[rookhomestead]

I made a homemade still-air bator. What I've learned from 2 of them the first go around. Less air flow, higher temp and humidity! You have to find the right balance, so adding or taking away surface area may not be all you have to do, it depends on circulating air. Use digital and mercury, but check them Both against multiple others, like the thermostat in your house, a grill thermometer, heat gun... Etc. Make sure you know what level the it is measuring if it's a still-air unit. My digital says 104* (higher than the top) mercury says 100* AT the top of the egg. Also the digital can take longer to display changes..I use with 6 or 7 watt bulb, depending on the house temp 70-75* and an old jelly jar, sometimes 2, depends on the humidity in the air. My foam coolers are inside dimensions approx 9inX6inX8in, quite small. I have to open or close holes, sometimes prop up the lid just a touch. When you add eggs or water jars, it takes awhile for temp to stabilize. Also have a scrap of aluminum dryer vent surrounding the bulb to disperse heat like an oven, and the other I made a foil tube. I spent 20bucks on thermometers. Used an old small lamp for one bator and bought a candelbara base socket at lowes for the other, 3bucks, and spliced a cheap extension cord I had laying around to wire it. Cheapest way to make them... Not the easiest. Best would be have a fan, a dimmer switch, and use air conditioning in your house lol.

 

[rookhomestead]

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[rookhomestead]

 

[rookhomestead]

Oh yeah, and you can probably get a nice thick cooler from a local Veternarian. They get supplies in them and usually just chuck em. The one I work at keeps like 3 to transfer stuff to other clinics in the network. My 2 bators have costed a total of 23bucks. They hold about 9 eggs each. Tho I only have 3 in the one. I was overwhelmed by all the ideas at first but I'm super excited to be trying it out!!