Need help with ventilation and heat sink

[Rashid100]

Hello guys. I had a couple of questions about my homemade incubator. Firstly, I have heard that using a Tupperware box with warm water helps keep temp stable. So I was wondering at what temp should I put the box in?(how hot should the bator be when I place it) And how exactly does the heat sink work?
Also, my incubator (forced air) has no ventilation holes. Is it necessary to put some? How big? And where on the incubator would be the ideal place to put holes? I would really really appreciate some help from u guys
Thanks!!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

You can put the water dish in at any point when the bator is warming up. When you add it, depending on what the water temp is, it'll either raise or lower the temp for a little bit if you've already got it up to 99.5. If that happens, don't adjust your bator temp. It will stabilize when the water in the dish gets to the same temperature as the incubator. The heat sink works by helping stabilize the temp inside the incubator, to keep it from swinging one way or the other. It really helps if you have a still air, like mine. Some things to keep in mind since you're thinking of using water though...
Having a dish of water as a heat sink will raise the humidity inside your incubator, which will cause issues for your eggs when they're ready to hatch. And, depending on where you keep it and how shallow the dish is, the chicks could get inside it and drown. Lots of people use sterilized rocks or those little glass pebbles for aquariums as a heat sink. Just place them under the wire, or wherever, outside of the water channels (I'm not sure how your bator is set up since its homemade, but you want as much surface are as possible to hold heat evenly). Or, you could just set a WHOLE bunch of eggs and not worry about the heat sink at all, the more eggs the better they hold steady temperature.

And yes, you'll need vent holes. My incubator (a still air LG) has several small vent holes on the top and bottom, and 2 larger ones on the top with removable plugs.

Good luck!

 

[Rashid100]

Thanks! I have a water dish in now. Humidity is fine but temp still fluctuates 2 to 3 degrees. What can I do? What would be the most effective heat sink?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I just bought a bunch of glass rocks from the dollar store to use the next time I incubate. With the heat sink, you want to fill as much of the bator as possible, like its full of eggs. I plan on putting mine in the bottom of my bator under the wire. Your dish probably isn't big enough to help steady the temp.

 

[vehve]

If using water as a heat sink, you should have it in a sealed container so that it doesn't affect moisture levels. It takes a while until the water reaches the same temperature that you've got in there, so wait a bit before starting to play around with temp adjustments. The more heat sink mass you can get in there, the better it will stabilize the temperature.

 

[Rashid100]

Thanks a ton for the suggestion guys I think I'll use a sealed container n put in some rocks for backup