Homemade incubator made of plywood, rigid foam insulation, fan from computer, lightbulb.
Has a window and manual turner.
My thermostats are accurate to 1 degree ( I don't want to re-buy).
My first hatch was excellent. Began with 30 eggs, 7 were infertile (all my welsummer hens!) so 23 eggs at lockdown, 21 hatched. No one was sticky or anything gooey.
The only thing I found hard was keeping humidity up during hatch. Water was seeping out of the box in the end, and I was still struggling to keep it at 65%. It likes to stay around 47%. But finally I found a sponge works for a couple hours at a time.
THIS HATCH- I would check and the inside gauge would say 104.7 , and the other gauge (thermostat)would say 100.4. for example...
I added another gauge inside, and depending on where it was placed, it could range from 93.5 all the way to 105 !!!
I moved the receptor of the thermostat away from the fan, and I think that helped- but depending on which position my egg turner is in, the temperatures are variable to several degrees.
I only have one lightbulb. I have tried to not use any egg spaces near the lightbulb, and in the incubator that is currently full of eggs... I have placed tinfoil loosely around the lightbulb. I also added marbles to my trays below the hardware cloth as a heat sink after reading some articles on here.
It is still fluctuating..
I know photos will be requested so here goes..
Has a window and manual turner.
My thermostats are accurate to 1 degree ( I don't want to re-buy).
My first hatch was excellent. Began with 30 eggs, 7 were infertile (all my welsummer hens!) so 23 eggs at lockdown, 21 hatched. No one was sticky or anything gooey.
The only thing I found hard was keeping humidity up during hatch. Water was seeping out of the box in the end, and I was still struggling to keep it at 65%. It likes to stay around 47%. But finally I found a sponge works for a couple hours at a time.
THIS HATCH- I would check and the inside gauge would say 104.7 , and the other gauge (thermostat)would say 100.4. for example...
I added another gauge inside, and depending on where it was placed, it could range from 93.5 all the way to 105 !!!
I moved the receptor of the thermostat away from the fan, and I think that helped- but depending on which position my egg turner is in, the temperatures are variable to several degrees.
I only have one lightbulb. I have tried to not use any egg spaces near the lightbulb, and in the incubator that is currently full of eggs... I have placed tinfoil loosely around the lightbulb. I also added marbles to my trays below the hardware cloth as a heat sink after reading some articles on here.
It is still fluctuating..
I know photos will be requested so here goes..
