incubator ideas! post your ideas for home made incubators, whether they work or not~

[kellyn]

Mm, it all depends on the person, if they know how to incubate right, set the settings right, the egg quality/storage, the position and condition of the incubator, etc. Like me, I hate little giant incubators because I'm one of those who opens theirs several times a day. And I dont/didn't add humidity at the right level until recently. I donthave any humidity trays carved into my incubators so I use a small bowl.

Annd, like I said, the best incubator is the mama bird itself.

Do you know of any other american incubators that have an auto cooling mechanism additional to the thermostats, even-heat and turner? Like the mama bird?

 

[mitchells]

Has anyone actually set up an incubator with a blow dryer? I really feel like if you made the right application a guy could make it work.

 

[quintinp]

Has anyone actually set up an incubator with a blow dryer? I really feel like if you made the right application a guy could make it work.

No, I wouldn't suggest using a blow dryer, but if you were to remove the heating elements, and use a different fan to circulate the air, that would work. Most all blow dryers have coil heating elements that could be used like the GQF elements you find in the GQF cabinet incubators, and hatchers. I have used a heating element from an old crock pot, and that worked GREAT.

 

[fly12]

I have a humidifier in my fridge incubator but even when on low it fogs up the glass. I did have a hygrometer but it broke. i tried putting it on a timer but it kept it on too long. any ideas?

 

[mitchells]

Well I've began work on my blow dryer incubator. I wired in a dimmer switch so that I can turn the blow dryer far lower then it was designed to run. Once the incubator is set up I'll be able to adjust the heater/fan output to whatever gives me the best results. I am planning to use a water heater thermostat (modified for sensitivity). I'll post my results good or bad.

Does anyone have an opinion about if the blow dryer should be installed inside the unit or if it should pull outside air into the incubator.

 

[clay30286]

My homemade job is running now. Still needs to be Prettied up and bit on the outside,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/697172/let-s-design-my-fridge-incubator#post_10883700

 

[mrshaggie810]

Well I've began work on my blow dryer incubator. I wired in a dimmer switch so that I can turn the blow dryer far lower then it was designed to run. Once the incubator is set up I'll be able to adjust the heater/fan output to whatever gives me the best results. I am planning to use a water heater thermostat (modified for sensitivity). I'll post my results good or bad.

Does anyone have an opinion about if the blow dryer should be installed inside the unit or if it should pull outside air into the incubator.

I am intrigued by this! I think it sounds really neat! I think it would be better to have it run from inside to outside, but I am new to all this....seems to me though that the air will be heated either way, so fresh air might be better...just my initial gut thought though. :shrug: Can't wait to see it!

My homemade job is running now. Still needs to be Prettied up and bit on the outside,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/697172/let-s-design-my-fridge-incubator#post_10883700

Holy wow! that looks great! And makes mine look rather feeble! lol!

So...I'm almost ready to set my eggs, but as I said...SUPER newbie here...this will be my first hatch...if I put them in the bator in an egg carton bottom do I still have to turn them, and what side should I put down? How do I turn them? Top to bottom or just rotate?

 

[mitchells]

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Current configuration of my blow dryer incubator. It's functioning correctly however I do not have data on how stable the temperature is yet.

 

[mitchells]

@mrshaggie810

Point should be down. And they should be rotated back and forth, not turned end over end. There is a ton of videos on the net that show how turners do the job.

 

[kellyn]

Crummy pic(and I've put aluminum foil on,the bottom to help increase humidity) but this was the very first HM incubator. My dad made tge box about Nov. 2010 and about 6 wks ago we gave it a nice,revision. works great- I think I got about 65% on these duck eggs