Is there a DIY method for egg incubation?

[Rivers]

My favourite hen got eaten by a fox. I was expecting one of my 3 hens to get broody as the weather got warmer, so my hens would get to have some of their own offspring. (I had a hen go broody last year and gave her surrogate eggs as we had no cockerels then).

Anyhow, as this was my "favourite" I really wanted some chicks out of her. But now she is in the belly of a fox. But, I do have at least one of her eggs (perhaps two). I have put them in a wooly hat on top of a warm TV receiver and am hoping the eggs stay alive while I figure this out.

Is there any kind of DIY incubator I could set up quickly? Real egg incubators are expensive and I can only get them mail order so will probably take a week to arrive. I could perhaps source a heated seed propagator locally. How warm do eggs have to be?

 

[jruhle]

Ideally, store the eggs in a cool spot before hatching and change their postion daily to keep the embryo from sticking to the shell. I made an incubator with a styro cooler, computer fan, hotwater heater thermostat, and a 40W lightbulb. Takes a while to get the temp right but its working great. You'll also need to put a pan of water in it to keep the humidity up around 40%. I've been turning the eggs 3 times daily. It is kinda time consuming to build and test so maybe you should just buy an incubator rather than go through the trouble. I made mine for $12. Planning on building a BIGGER one soon!!! I was hoping on some broody hens but no luck yet! Good luck to you!

 

[leirob007]

I know an elderly lady that " proves a point " and hatches a batch in a shoebox stuffed under an old wood burning stove with a candy thermometer stuck in the side of it and tosses a wet handkerchief in it from time to time for humidity.
keep them between 99.5 and 100.5
humidity from 20 to 50%
and start buying food for them in 21 days or so.
If trapping is legal in your area, I would be mad enough to contact someone in the trappers association and get revenge and a new friend.

My favourite hen got eaten by a fox. I was expecting one of my 3 hens to get broody as the weather got warmer, so my hens would get to have some of their own offspring. (I had a hen go broody last year and gave her surrogate eggs as we had no cockerels then).

Anyhow, as this was my "favourite" I really wanted some chicks out of her. But now she is in the belly of a fox. But, I do have at least one of her eggs (perhaps two). I have put them in a wooly hat on top of a warm TV receiver and am hoping the eggs stay alive while I figure this out.

Is there any kind of DIY incubator I could set up quickly? Real egg incubators are expensive and I can only get them mail order so will probably take a week to arrive. I could perhaps source a heated seed propagator locally. How warm do eggs have to be?

 

[leirob007]

Or, If you know someone like me that keeps an incubator or two running. Hand us your eggs and we'll hand you back your chicks later. Are you close to the upper part of South Carolina?

 

[Rivers]

An update on this:

In the end I ordered a seed propagator online, it was supposed to come in 48hrs but due to postal delays it got here in about 4 days. So in all these eggs spent about 10 days on a TV reciever which was only about 25ºc, before they went in the propagator. Even when I got them in it, the temperature fluctuated wildly from about 25c to 50c and I really thought I had definitely killed them off. I candled them and found nothing except for a dark path that looked like a burst yolk or half cooked egg.

But to my surprise I candled them today, and they ALL are very clearly viable. I added a few eggs later and even these are developing light veins. The first bunch now have the dark eye spot and outline of an embyro.

I also now have a realiable thermometer and they are at a constant 37.8c