Make my own or buy one ?

[chickenjoe]

do most people on here make their own incubator or buy them. I'm think of purchasing one on ebay that comes with a turner which will also do quail eggs. Just wondering whch way to go.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

My styrofoam Hova Bator works just fine, but when I upgrade(this spring) I plan on making my own. It's cheaper, will be loads bigger, and looks like a fun project. So, it really depends on how many eggs you think you will be incubating. My Bator holds up to 40 in the turner, but I have BIG PLANS because I have a major chicken addiction. You may have more restraint than I do though, so I'd say...take time to consider what you want to get out of it, and purchase accordingly.

 

[organicfoltzfamilyfarm]

In my personal opinion I would buy one. I have 8 eggs in my Little Giant Still Air Incubator and it's the first time I have ever used one. I don't think I would feel comfortable making my own and risking that. Not saying that you're not capable of making one.

The only thing I would suggest is getting a really good thermometer. The one's that come with the incubator and the egg turner were the same temp and it didn't feel hot enough to me. So I bought 2 more and the 2 I bought said that the Little Giant thermometers were off about 10 degrees! Now that's a lot. At one point I had all 4 in there and the 2 Little Giants were reading around 99.5 to 100 and the other 2 that I bought said it was only 89.

Hope this helps because I am a newbie to hatching myself!

Good luck!

And Btw I have seen a significant amount of growth since the temp adjusting.

 

[RichwoodsChickenKing]

I built my own using a kitchen cabinet base and a bunch of ideas from others who have built them. I have maybe 100 bucks in it and still need a turner but my first hatch from 37 eggs is about 30 so far and we have had a ton of problems trying to get it all lined out. This is the first test run. One or two more and we are ramping it up. Our incubator will hold about 350-400 eggs loaded.

 

[organicfoltzfamilyfarm]

Rich- That sounds so exciting. I wouldn't trust myself enough to do that anytime soon. As soon as our barn is cleared out I plan on breeding chickens. So maybe I will be making on in the future. I do have my eye on a really expensive incubator, but my husband is crafty and I'm sure he could build 200 incubators for the price of that one.

Well see how it goes in my Little Giant before I make a clear decision on breeding. I want to breed Marans and Orpintons.

 

[rrhall]

We bought are first incubator it was a still air styrofoam incubator after using it for a few times we added a auto egg turner to it which made it even better. A month ago I decided I was going to try to make a homemade incubator,I found some plans I liked and started building it.I finished it on the 10th,worked some bugs out of it and put 7 eggs in it on the 12th,so far so good(knock on wood) I candled the eggs today and it looks like I might have 7 good eggs,I will find out on the 1st.What was nice,I was able to use the egg turner in the homemade one which helped on cost and I still have the styrofoam one for a backup.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Quote:
Wow, rrhall, what did you make it out of? And what's the thermostat? Looks awesome!

 

[rrhall]

Quote:
Wow, rrhall, what did you make it out of? And what's the thermostat? Looks awesome!

Thanks,it is made from 3/4" plywood and the thermostat is a PID Temp. controller with a K type thermocouple controlling the solid state relay and heating coil.There are a few things I'm going to change once it is shut down but overall I am very happy with the way it turned out.

 

[rosco]

How much are you wanting to spend? many of us have made their own. i spent ~$15 b/c i had most of the stuff. it is quite easy and takes almost no time. many people on this site will help you. If money isn't that big of an issue i'd post that. incubators can cost next to nothing all the way into the $1,000's

this BYC'er makes a control box that includes an egg turner control something or other. "cbiblis" is his BYC username.