Incubating with a light?

[Yessabub]

My guinea hen layed an egg and im guessing its fertilized because i have one male and one female. Im gonna try incubating it with a light kept at the constant temp of 99 degrees or as close to it as possible. My dilema is the humidity right now its in a little bowl of warm water like 1/4 inch deep under the bulb will this work? Has anyone else had success with light bulb incubating? I know everyone is gonna say buy an incubator but im doing this as an experiment so im just looking for tips.

 

[mstricer]

Are you putting it in a box of some sort? If not I doubt it will work because the light will only heat the one side and you will have uneven heat. But good luck anyways. I like it when someone tries to think outside the box.......LOL get it

 

[Yessabub]

Quote:
LOL HILARIOUS and thanks for the tip

 

[FrenchToast]

I met a person this summer that did it however I don't think the egg sat directly in the water.
You will have to turn that egg at least 3 times a day.
I'm sure if you do an internet search you can find some help.

Good Luck.

Keep us posted.

 

[Chinchilla2]

You can incubate with a lightbulb. Light bulbs are a staple source of heat for homemade incubators. The cheapie incubator bowl sold by GQF is a light heat incubator. Think they call it the chickabator. Anywho, watch your temp and roll at least 3 times a day. The water or humidity source sounds great, just do not put the egg in it. Having it under the light will insure that heat does get to it for humidity to form.

 

[Yessabub]

Quote:
Im a little confused are you saying to not have the egg in the water but over it?

 

[faerysplayground]

Yeah, you don't want to place the egg in the water, that will kill it. We put a wet sponge in the box for the humidity. But a small bowl of water will work too. ANd make sure if you use a sponge not to let it touch the egg... Good luck!!!

 

[Yessabub]

I know its best to keep the temp as stable as possible but is it a big deal if it declined or elevated a couple degrees? Whats the minimum temp and whats the max temp that would kill the baby?

 

[faerysplayground]

You really wnt the temp around 100, higher than 103 will kill it, i'm not sure about how low will kill it, but i really wouldn't go lower than like 99. We have a 60 watt light over ours, and had to play with the position for a bit till it kept it at 100... took about an hour tops off and on. Just check it like every 10 min. and see if goes up or down, to determine if you need to move it closer or higher, but once it stays at around 100 your good, just be sure to turn them at least 3 times a day to keep them from sticking to the shell!!

 

[Chinchilla2]

Quote:
Keep the egg out of the water and not touching your water source. The temps need to be stable with the "target" temp of 100 F since you aren't using a forced air fan. Since you want to keep the air humid, you will definitely need some sort of box or container to make your "mini sauna" . The closer the water is to the light, the more water evaporates to make humidity.

I have found that keeping the egg level with a light works best. Depending upon the size of the incubator, some people have better luck with the light slightly above the egg(s) and at one end of the bator, some with the light slightly below the egg(s), etc. You have to work with it a bit to figure out the best place for the egg, the light, and the water source so that all three can be happy without touching another.