I built my own incubator to hatch my first chickens.

[kludgemechanic]

My wife and I wanted to get some chickens for our 2 boys even though neither one of us knows anything about chickens. I love making things so I decided to make my own incubator. I did a lot of research online. I just set the eggs today (2/16/2015). I bought a dozen Black Australorp eggs from a local breeder. I'm located in Rock Spring, Georgia which is about 30 min south of Chattanooga, TN.

I made my incubator from a broken down refrigerator / freezer. I used the top section which is the freezer. I cleaned it well as it was pretty nasty inside. I took out the cosmetic pieces and left the fan inside. I wired the fan to a cord and use it to circulate the air. I bought a PID controller on Amazon to control power to a 100w light-bulb. I made an egg table and a egg tuner that I seen on YouTube. I haven't been able to locate an electric motor that rotates slow enough for my egg tuner yet but at least I wont have to turn ever egg manually, I just have to push the table over a few inches and it will rotate the eggs for me.

I wanted to share my short story with anyone that is interested, I have put in a lot of time into making the incubator. I hope I can get some chicks to hatch.

 

[Rani]

Hope it all goes well and look forward to watching your progress!!!

 

[kludgemechanic]

I will keep chiming in on the progress! If you have any advise, I'll take it!

 

[bamachicks8]

Pictures?

 

[kludgemechanic]

Sure, I will post some pictures tonight!

 

[kludgemechanic]

Here are some pictures of my homemade incubator:

 

[kludgemechanic]

Here is a breakdown of all of the pieces in there:

Black: Fan
Blue: Temp Sensor for the PID Controller. (Notice that is level with the top of the eggs
Red: Wireless Temp/Humidity Sensor
Green: Egg Turner that I made I just push the egg turner about 1.5 inches and it rolls the eggs upside down.
Yellow: Stationary table that I made, the eggs rest on it. It allows moisture to get to them.
Teal: 2 water trays which are under the stationary table to add humidity.

 

[bamachicks8]

Can't wait for baby chics.

 

[kludgemechanic]

My uncle gave me 15 Exchequer Leghorn eggs. I set them today! Last night I added an RFduino that uses Arduino software to talke to a temperature/humidity sensor. It gives me temperature and humidity settings ever 2 seconds. I have it on a spare laptop that I can remote into from work (at lunch time of course). That way I can check the temp and humidity during the day. If I see a problem I can call my wife who is a stay at home mom and have her adjust something. So far the temp is always spot on using the PID controller. The only thing that may need adjusting is the humidity. Below is a screenshot of what the report looks like. It just adds a new line at the bottom ever 2 seconds.

 

[bamachicks8]

That's awesome! I would never get any work done though.