Well this is a long story...
About a month ago I had a broody hen sitting on five eggs. I did not have high hopes, because I have a bantam brown leghorn rooster and full size hens... I assumed he could not "get the job done." I candled at day 7 and saw 6 clear, and one iffy. I tossed the six and left the "iffy" egg overnight, so I had a little time to use Google and see what the heck was going on in my egg. I came to the conclusion it HAD to be rotten... Only to crack it open and find a witto bitty bean sized embryo in there! CRAP!!!!! I explain it to my five and six year old boys, and tell them we'll try again soon... And then my broody decided she wasn't gonna be broody anymore! Well my six year old went to school and told his kindergarten teacher our horrible news, and she sent him home with an egg from her chickens! So I attacked BYC's homemade incubator page... I started with a cardboard box and a 60 watt bulb at first just so I could get it going and my son could see I was trying! Then I realized I had an old, broken "mini" fridge I could transform into an incubator!! Which I did and it took about a weekend with a little help from my hubby. (I took a ton of pics and soon I hope to figure out how to start my own thread and show you all how I built it!) So I've moved my lone egg (which is an ameraucana egg by the way, and the hen is tiny, which explains how my bantam roo "got the job done") into the fridge-a-bator. iTs day 12 and candeling shows its alive and well! So hopefully in a few days ill have a pic of a cute fluffy butt to upload! This is my first hatch by the way, yet i feel like an expert from reading on BYC! And I am ADDICTED already! Happy mothers day!!