My Basic DIY Incubator

[asentaja1]

I hope this is right thread to show my incubator. Not pretty, but it works (and building is at least half of the fun.)
Mostly made from parts lying around, only digital thermostat and hygrometer is new.
This is made to be as foolproof as possible.

-12Vdc system, so i don't have to worry about power outages and it is safe compared to mains 250Vac. It is also easy to transport (when incubating) if needed.
-Old car battery and wall charger connected (if power goes out, battery still keeps this working minimum of four days)
-2x 21w easily replaceable bulbs and box of them on hand (when one fails, other is still capable to keep steady temperature, it just increases running time)
-old computer fan for circulating air
-digital thermostat. (it is accurate and minimizes user error)
-digital hygrometer (i bought ten cheap ebay-ones and only one of them was accurate compared to calibrated lab meter)
-on bottom of this there are four filled water bottles to serve as heat banks.
-on bottom there is water plate and cloth strips other end in water
-adjusting humidity by changing height of cloth strips
-clinical thermometer for checking max temperarure (just for making sure)
-wire mesh basket and old towel under eggs.
-all parts attached to lid for easy cleaning

 

[torilovessmiles]

I hope this is right thread to show my incubator. Not pretty, but it works (and building is at least half of the fun.)
Mostly made from parts lying around, only digital thermostat and hygrometer is new.
This is made to be as foolproof as possible.

-12Vdc system, so i don't have to worry about power outages and it is safe compared to mains 250Vac. It is also easy to transport (when incubating) if needed.
-Old car battery and wall charger connected (if power goes out, battery still keeps this working minimum of four days)
-2x 21w easily replaceable bulbs and box of them on hand (when one fails, other is still capable to keep steady temperature, it just increases running time)
-old computer fan for circulating air
-digital thermostat. (it is accurate and minimizes user error)
-digital hygrometer (i bought ten cheap ebay-ones and only one of them was accurate compared to calibrated lab meter)
-on bottom of this there are four filled water bottles to serve as heat banks.
-on bottom there is water plate and cloth strips other end in water
-adjusting humidity by changing height of cloth strips
-clinical thermometer for checking max temperarure (just for making sure)
-wire mesh basket and old towel under eggs.
-all parts attached to lid for easy cleaning

Very, very nice. I love the idea of the battery! Have you had pretty good hatch rates with it?

 

[asentaja1]

Very, very nice. I love the idea of the battery! Have you had pretty good hatch rates with it?

The idea of using 12vdc/battery was the main reason i wanted to contribute this. When i year ago built this and were gathering infromation considering diy incubators, i never saw anybody building with 12v. Everybody just seemed to be afraid of possible power failures (and for reason, downsides living in countryside..) and i thought that it can't be so hard.. Why just not build incubator with battery backup. And easiest way to accomplish that is to build it to 12v from the start so not needing power inverters/UPS-units/generators etc.

There is now second batch going (too early to tell about this). First batch was succesful. Few eggs did not start at all, unfertilized maybe. All eggs that started developing survived.

 

[torilovessmiles]

Hello everyone! 6 of my twelve viable eggs have hatched in the little giant! The chicks are red-gold, some with dark and light patches, with the exception of one little chipmunk patterned guy. I swear one has a beard (not sure how?).
My DIY bator served as a secondary drying tank. Some of the little guys just couldn't dry off in the humidity!
Anyway, I'll update with some more later!

 

[kuhnse51]

Yayy!! You got some chickies now just in time for spring!! Congrats @torilovessmiles

 

[torilovessmiles]

Yayy!! You got some chickies now just in time for spring!! Congrats @torilovessmiles

Thank you! It's day 22 and I'm still giving a couple days for 5 others to hatch. On died after pipping. Everything looked fine (yolk absorbed, veins/blood absorbed, not shrinkwrapped), so I assume it was just too weak to break out. I love the six I have!!
My mom has loaded me up with more eggs to hatch for her. So I believe we may see my DIY in action soon!

 

[gimmie birdies]

sorry to hear about the chick in egg, I just hatched out 8 and number nine pipped, then rotated in egg to air cell but it was away from pip, so it used up it's air then died. I felt bad because if i made the pip hole just a tad bigger it would have made it.

 

[torilovessmiles]

sorry to hear about the chick in egg, I just hatched out 8 and number nine pipped, then rotated in egg to air cell but it was away from pip, so it used up it's air then died. I felt bad because if i made the pip hole just a tad bigger it would have made it.

I'm sorry about yours too! After opening the egg it appeared to be malpositioned (I just realized). It was upside-down and appeared to have receded from where it had internally pipped, away from the air cell. I have no idea how this little guy even managed to externally pip, as his beak wasn't even in the air cell when I did the eggtopsy!

 

[kuhnse51]

Yeah I had a couple die after pipping. I've read it could possibly be due to them being too large for the egg and not being able to turn to zip the shell or the from the membranes drying out from being exposed to air for so long after they pip externally. I ended up helping some of my chicks out the second time I incubated because I didn't want them to die in the shell (I only did this after they had been externally pipped for about half the day+ with no zipping) I think it saved a couple of them who came out perfectly healthy after helping them zip. I still let them do the final steps of pushing out of the egg. Good luck with the last few eggs they've still got a chance of hatching if its only day 22

 

[gimmie birdies]

I helped just a tiny bit on my last very last #9 chick but I left the shell on for her to kick off.

This is a pure SFH mom was red, dad was red with a blue base. blondish-red.