Incubator

[Roger_Farrow]

Hello everyone
I would like some opinions on this incubator I am building for my wife. There is 2 60 watt heat lamp bulbs with a fan blowing across them and another fan below the racks. I also put in another fan just above where the water bowl will be during lockdown

 

[DobieLover]

Hello Roger, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I have zero advice to offer you on your homemade incubator. I only use broody hens.

 

[BoundlessLove]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens, Roger!
I am in the same boat as DobieLover in that I’ve never built nor used a homemade incubator.
But, I wish you many successful hatches with yours!

 

[The Moonshiner]

Not a lot of details to go by.
What area are the bulbs in? Water pan? What directions are the fans blowing?
Any thermostat? What kind?
Have you tested it to see how it does maintaining constant temps?
Consistent temps throughout?
Etc, etc, etc...

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, Roger and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

How does it hold temperature and humidity? Sounds like there may be too many fans? How big is the water pan? What kind of thermostat?

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[SnackMeat]

You would want to drill holes and feed the wires through the hole. And have them as far away from normal movement as possible so they don't accidentally get snagged. You'd probably have to make a larger hole to get a plug through and then fill with a rubber stopper or similar insulation.

Depending on where this cabinet will be kept, and if you do any winter incubating, those big glass doors, while awesome for looking for pips, are largely going to cause a temperature difference towards the front of the cabinet. You've worked around this probably with two lights and extra fans. You still might consider installing a bracket on the front to slide either plexiglass fronts (so there is sort of a double paned glass thing going on) or square insulation (I particularly favor poly-iso board over reflectix.)

Assume that at some point, there will be a power failure and that the cabinet needs to hold on to as much heat as possible for as long as possible.


I like that you have the red light. If you look up wavelength effects on incubating eggs there's some good studies out there. I think I saw an Australian study that said certain red wavelengths had the best results, but after about two weeks post hatch the chicks all seemed to be even no matter the lighting conditions.


I might also suggest a small enclosed box in the cabinet to account for eggs that are losing too much weight/humidity per week. You can have a separate area to give them extra humidity.

Some eggs, even from the same chickens, will more rapidly lose moisture over others. I think it has to do with porosity of the eggshell. If you are trying to follow the 2.8% (I think) weekly loss, it's good to have an area for extra humidity to slow down the over achievers.

This isn't as big of a deal when you're going for quantity but if you have a lot of expensive eggs, or eggs where you really need to maximize hatch rate, it's something you would want to factor in to such a large incubating cabinet. Otherwise your wife can simply run a smaller incubator with a higher humidity, but if you can keep them all in one place, all the better.

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC, Roger!

 

[Roger_Farrow]

Cabinet is 13" deep 30" tall and 28" wide in the interior. I have 2 60 watt heat bulbs in the center of the top hanging downward with 1 fan on the side blowing across them. I have another fan in the opposite of the top pointing down. It maintains heat I have a BN link probe thermostat connected to the lights.

 

[chrissynemetz]

 

[Roger_Farrow]

The fan blowing down from the top didn't spread out the hot air even. I moved the second fan back below the racks to see if that helps with the heat