My 14 yo sons homemade Bator- questions??

[momiphouph]

We are looking for any thoughts or suggestions, I know he needs to get a water wiggler but we cant find one. Im planning on trying the dollar store across town we just havnt made it that direction.

He has done most of it by himself, with dad or I watching and guiding him. Dad helped the most. He tried a 25w bulb but couldnt get the temp up it sat around 70-80... although humidity was at 80% and rising. So now he has changed the bulb to 40w and opened a vent hole... This morning the temp was 103 but without water in it the humidity is staying around 44 to 50% (we live in Georgia so its pretty humid here anyway) We are trying to figure out how to keep temps more consistant. It has been sitting around 100 during most of the day today but doesnt stay there. There are 2 vent holes on top, one is already open and there is a hole where the wires come out.
So here are my questions...

Any other ways to make a water wiggler? or checking egg temps?

How can we maintain temps?

Anyone have experiance hatching somewhere fairly humid?

Do you see anything we forgot or need to do? Or should have done differently? Im totally up to suggestions!

We did not add the thermostat but I am trying to talk the boys into adding it. Is it necessary?

This is a better shot of the inside, before he built his egg turner, we had to have a pink egg carton... hoping for girls

the temps in this pic are with the 25w bulb and no water added.

 

[wing it]

looks good nice job

 

[pefferlawchicken]

Wow congratz to your son very nice job, im 15 and built my own bator , works great, your sons looks amazing , cant wait to see what you hatch

good luck and happy hatching

 

[kelseygirl707]

Sounds like you need a thermostat. some people use A water heater single pole thermostat, with little fluctuation. I use a Digital one I got off ebay, and I liked it soo much, I bought a second and built a hatcher, but with shipping the digital one I bought is $30, but well worth it! Keeps my temps perfect!

Here's the thermostat I have http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270531863176&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT


You can see it on the table to the left of our home made incubator.

Good Luck! He's done an amazing job so far, I'm a little jealous, I love that big viewing window!

 

[momiphouph]

Thanks! Im really proud of him! The window was the one thing I insisted on... we have 5 kids and I just couldnt imagine all of us trying to watch hatching chicks through a small window. wwaaayyy to stressful for mom!

I'll definatly be showing that thermastat to dh and ds... see if I can get them on board? My dh tried to pick up the water heater themostat and it was very frusterating... The guy at lowes was not helping... dh was asking questions cause he wasnt sure if it was the right kind. The guy treated us like we were crazy and told dh that he could just buy an incubator for 20 bucks... WHAT???

So we ended up just leaving without it... I guess that was a good thing, maybe we can find something that would work a bit better? kelseygirl707 i love you bator!

I showed it to dh when we started... I really wanted them to stain ours instead of paint, but ya know cant win them all. LOL

 

[kelseygirl707]

Thanks! I know they always have the thermostat I bought on ebay for sale, just search "Mini digital aquarium thermostat" and it should come up, it's shipped from Hong Kong, but I got both of mine in about a week.

I too went to Ace hardware and got funny looks, when I tried to ask questions about the thermostats, plus my store only had 2 pole, and I have no idea what that means, but I was told I needed Single pole. Then I just figured I was already paying $10 for the water heater thermostat, I might as well fork out the extra $20 and get a digital one, that I know will hold the temp I need. I have mine set to turn on the bulb whenever the temp falls 4 tenths of a degree, but you can set it to whatever you want. If you do get the same thermostat that I did, let me know and I will PM you the diagram that deek sent me on how to wire it, I was clueless, but with the diagram I can have it rigged in 10 minutes.

Good luck! You guys are doing wonderful so far!

 

[tammyd57]

I couldn't find a water wiggler either. So I bought one of those gel filled 'squishy' toys and inserted an instant read thermometer, like you use to see if the chicken is done in the oven.

I hope it works okay. I have two other thermometers I plan to use also. One glass and one digital.
I'm gonna make sure I KNOW the temperature in there!

I did get a water heater thermostat and plan to use it. It's the single pole kind (it will say bottom element on the package).

 

[momiphouph]

kelseygirl707
I wonder if I could pick one up at petsmart? I dont really want to wait for it to come in the mail, we already have one egg that needs to go in, Of course we want to hatch more then one, but our little D'Uccle doesnt lay often so we dont want to toss this one and wait for another.

I do like the idea of digital, but not sure I can get dh in on paying for it... even though I totally agree best to just know what ya have. We'll see where it goes? He's pretty easy going! I'll definatly let you know!

gel filled 'squishy' toys

Do you have a picture?? I think I know what you mean but wanna be sure.

Thanks for all the help!!!​

 

[jnkir7]

look in the party supplies at walmart ,i just found them

there

 

[WriterofWords]

When my class made their bator we didn't use a wiggler and it worked just fine.