I just made my first Homemade Incubator. Check Her Out!

[b.hromada]

Great job there!

thanks for sharing too.

 

[dwdoc]

Quote:
I also made a homemade incubator (see my page: bucs-bator build). I manually turn my eggs by sliding a brick under one side until I get the angle I want, during the next turn simply put the brick under the opposite side. This action in effect mimicks an autoturner. If you really wanted to be creative you could rotate the brick around all four sides but it is not neccessary. This also makes turning a one step process, no need to open the bater and turn individual eggs; all eggs are turned at once.

If you do look at my bater on "my page" you will be looking at an older version. Before I set a new batch of eggs this weekend I made some major modifications. If you are interested in some of the things I learned let me know so I don't hijack your post.

Quick question, I noticed that you do not have any heat sinks in your bator... Are you have trouble keeping your temp regulated?

Good luck with your hatch.

Ok, how do I go about adding heat sinks? Can you link me with the thread you got help on? (or take pity on a nooby who made her first incubator and explain)

My incubator is holding betweeb 97-99 fairly steady so I will try some adjustments with the thermostat mentioned earlier. I am not in a hurry to set eggs. I really want the incubator to be correct first.
I have 4 other incubators I will use until this one is running steady, with several days to observe it. Better to wait now and get chicks later than to be impatient and get problems later.

For heat sinks I use filled water bottles and river rock. You can go to my incubator page if you like: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=73772-bucs-bator-build

 

[marathonmultiplesmom]

Quote:
Ok, how do I go about adding heat sinks? Can you link me with the thread you got help on? (or take pity on a nooby who made her first incubator and explain)

My incubator is holding betweeb 97-99 fairly steady so I will try some adjustments with the thermostat mentioned earlier. I am not in a hurry to set eggs. I really want the incubator to be correct first.
I have 4 other incubators I will use until this one is running steady, with several days to observe it. Better to wait now and get chicks later than to be impatient and get problems later.

For heat sinks I use filled water bottles and river rock. You can go to my incubator page if you like: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=73772-bucs-bator-build

Thanks, I have a question. I see you have full water bottles so I am wondering if I need more. I added a water balloon but I am having a range of about 4.5 degrees. I closed the gap from 10 by following some tips from others... switched around the location of the bulb, thermostat and fan in the wire hen. Now the fan is in the tail the thermostat is in the head and the bulb lays down. I am on a 60 watt bulb. 25 was too low, 75 was too high.

So my question is how many full bottles of water do you have in there? I noticed your eggs were much higher up so do you have the whole space below them acting as a heat sink then? Does that solve the cheap thermostat problem?

 

[dwdoc]

Quote:
When I remodeled my incubator I did so because I did not like the orginal chicken wire from the first effort. So I found the Grill Topper I am now using; but I needed something to hold it up. So I decided on reusing the water bottles from my first effort as my floor support system. So I stood them up and now they are supports and heat sinks. I found I like them standing up better than laying down; standing up allows me to keep the six bottles around the edge of the bator so they also work as added insulation and gives me great airflow for the rising heat. At the base of the bottles I have a 2 inch layer of river rock working as anchores for my bottles, insulation and heat sinks as well. I don't think you can have too many heat sinks as long as you don't cover your heat and air source.

One of the concerns...if I may... about your bator is the two large viewing windows. You may be losing stability due to the lack of insulation at the glass; your bator is subjected more so to outside influences.

Your problem could also be the t-stat. Some t-stats have a variance of +/- 5 degrees; some more than that. So, your s-stat could be the issue more than the windows. I do not know what you are using but a lot of folks here use a Wafer t-stat. I do not know anything about them. Frankly, I purchased mine from Ebay because it was cheaper than a Wafer and it would get to me quickly...I had eggs enroute and not a lot of time. Some folks on here have been critical of my choice but I really like it. My temp is amazingly steady.

Before I go, I have to say this. I am no expert; I can only share what I have learned and the observations I've made. Keep me posted.

 

[jenlynn4]

that looks like some contraption you have there. Best of luck with your hatch! I hope it does well!

 

[marathonmultiplesmom]

Thanks for the tips and info from your experience. I won't be incubating in Matilda for another couple of weeks. I am still "playing" with her. Just wanted to update that I got the temps down to a 2 degree range which I think it just fantastic. I wouldn't have been able to do it without some of the helpful posts and links here. The Average temp was 97 so I increased the thermostat settings. The water sinks really do stabilize the temps. I have been letting it run all day and I make changes at night and just "wait till morning" for everything to stabilize again. Slowly but surely I am getting it up to ideal temps.

I got back-tracked due to my first thermometer being (way) off. So I now have just give it time. I randomly observe a few light cycles and write down the temps it turns off an on, and take an average. I am confident that it will work once I get the settings "just right"

Oh, and I am planning to add a wiggler! My heat sinks will be mason jars of water. I am going to throw a thermometer in one of those as well and put it right next to the front window. I really wanted those windows for my kids. Hopefully they don't lose too much heat. If so I guess we can always make curtains!

 

[marathonmultiplesmom]

Woo Hoo!

Just wanted to update to say that I have the incubator set up now so that it goes ON at 97.5 and goes OFF at 101.5. That is an average temp of 99.5. Being as the eggs change temps less rapidly than air, this should keep them at a fairly steady 99.5. The set up looks a bit different than my original post. I will add some pics when I set eggs and of course at hatch as well. I will be using this one, hopefully by the end of the month. I have to set my 2 Brinsea machines first then collect eggs for this one.

 

[gumbii]

go to walmart or something, and get a water wiggler... put a sensor for the thermostat inside of it, and that will mimic an egg's core temp...

 

[marathonmultiplesmom]

Quote:
yes I have one just haven't set it in there yet

 

[marathonmultiplesmom]

Hi everyone, I have not set eggs in the incubator but I made a video of what she looks like now, with all the tinkering I did... temps are pretty steady now with all the heat sinks. So, thanks everyone for the tips.