How to turn up the heat in my "incubator"?

[XxPandaxX]

I'm a newb at this, so here's what I got.

It's a medium sized box. 25 inches width, 10 inches high. On the top, in this picture, you can see a wool blanket over some screen on the top. The screen panel has small holes, and I guess the wool blanket has been insulating inside, cause' I stuck my hand inside (Don't worry, there are no eggs inside besides some grocery eggs to see if they would heat up. They feel like warm, toasty rocks LOL) anyway I put my hand in and it felt nice and humid. The air feels warm. Not "hot". Soon I'm going to put the wool blanket or some tin foil around the insides to get some more insulation. I know. It's ghetto. Anyway, moving on. By the way, I've never incubated eggs, so I have NO CLUE as to what properly tempered (temperatured, whatever) eggs feel like to the hand, or what the air should feel like when I open the top. I have no clue as to if this will work. Any of you guys out there, gimme some tips! Please! These eggs will (hopefully) be the first of my flock. And yes, there's venilation/breathing holes. NEXT PICTURE.



Here's the inside! In the left hand corner is a bowl of water, about 2 inches deep. I think this is called "surface area" and helps with the humidity in the incubator. That light in the middle is a red 75 Watt Fluker's clamp lamp, designed to keep animals warm. Do I need more heat in there? I'm getting a thermometer and a hygrometer today, so I'll post what my results are. I think it's only in the 80's, if that. The insulation should help. Any ideas on how to turn up the heat? Or.. any.. ideas.. at all ... I'm taking all advice lol. And in the back (you can't see it in this picture. I apologize for the dim lighting) there's a 12v PC fan that wears out all the cold and hot spots and "pushes the air around", I guess. Wish me luck tomorrow (I won't begin incubating tomorrow if this thing doesn't get the right temp soon.

 

[XxPandaxX]

After I posted this, I put the wool blanket inside O__O the eggs got warmer immediately ! I'm still gonna get some foil to put around the edges as well.

 

[AwallRooster]

ok,what you have WILL work, but you have to get the condictions right in the bator first.

heres what i have learned.
The first 18 days of incubating the eggs the temp.needs to be 99 to 100 degrees,no higher ,it will boil the eggs on the inside ot the shells.the humdity needs to be 50% no lower,no higher then 70%.
you got to turn the eggs atleast twice a day,three would be better,jus put a "X" on one side and a "O" on the other side,that way you know their marked,an can keep a record when you turn them.
Day 19 through 21 put the bator in "lockdown mode" this means, dont touch the eggs at all,and the humdity needs to be at 100%,(but aslong as it is 60% or higher you will be ok)100% just helps the baby chicks from sticking to the egg membrane,on Day 21 you should see signs of hatching,(piping,zipping,chirping.)
You can also "candle" the eggs . I do mine at day 10,that way you can see the chick embroy easily,if you see the embroy ,then keep the egg, if you dont throw it away, its not a fertile egg,The easy way to candle is with a flashlight in a dark room,hold the flash light up right,with most of your hand covering the bulb end,an take a egg,place it on top of the hand over the light and you should be able to see thrugh the egg, and see the embroy insided tohe egg., good luck!!

 

[XxPandaxX]

AAAAAAAAAAH ! YES ! Thank you thank you thank you x1,000,000,000,000,000 ! Hehehe !

Yessiree, I'll be getting a hygrometer and a thermometer today. I'm taking your advice with the temperatures thing ! I'm going to make a new thread tomorrow on the eggs and such... A couple more questions ! I'm a very curious person :3 I'll be getting Whole Foods fertilized eggs. They're brown, what kind of production hens do you think Whole Foods will use ? Do they use BO? RIR? I guess it depends on how often they lay? These will be my FIRST EVER chickens, so I dunno I'm sorry I'm so excited right now. I am VERY hard to be controlled. Anyway ! They get FRESH fertile eggs tomorrow morning So when I get them, they should only be a day or two old, but should I leave them out for a day to get the condensation off of them? Or just a couple hours? THANKS !

By the way, my name is Steven. Hai ! Glad to meetcha' !

 

[AwallRooster]

Hi Steven,

more then likely they will be Red Stars, if you didn't know the difference you would think they were RIR,but who knows ,is'ts all according to what farm the eggs come from,as to what the eggs will be,ask your retailer were you bought the eggs, maybe he can tell you what egg farm they came from, an poissbly you can find them on the web, and yes i would let the cold eggs get to room temp first before you start the incubating process.

 

[XxPandaxX]

Thank you sooo much ! I owe you one for the warm welcome AND the advice ! D

 

[XxPandaxX]

Oh, and does insulating increase the humidity or the temperature or both? Cause I put in the wool plaid blanket you see in the first picture, and another small one, and one more dish of water 2-3 inches deep and it IMMEDIATELY heated up, and got more humid.

 

[XxPandaxX]

And er ah, one more. What should properly incubated eggs feel like (e.g, warm, hot, etc.) mine feel hot.

 

[mabhera]

Hello and welcome!!! I'm almost new also but i'm on my third incubation. First too in a foam cooler (the cheap one less than three dollars) and in this one I prepared one in wood. I just used aluminum foil inside but I know I should have used foam for insulation. Better insulation less heat I loose. the termometer is going to tell you the temp because is difficult to know by touch if you dont have lots of experience. I'don't. My bator keeps between 98 and 100 degrees. Try to find something to insulate and read a lot about diferent methods of incubation. I use the dry method so I don't add water until the last 3 days . Good luck.