new homemade incubator - am i missing anything?

[kahlua]

I finally finished my new incubator today. My current incubator is really bad and I've lost a lot of my first batch of eggs due to temperature fluctuations. So I built a new one - many thanks to all the ideas on this forum, I couldn't have figured it out without them!

It's a cooler - with a water heater thermostat wired to a light bulb, and a computer fan wired separately. There is a pan for water at the bottom (but I will need to get a smaller one - the humidity is running too high). And I have a water wiggler with a thermometer, and 3 air holes at different heights, and some bottles of water to hold heat.

I plugged it in earlier today - I've played with the thermostat a bit but I think it's perfect now - the water wiggler is right around 99.5 and holding steady.

So does it look okay? I will be getting some new eggs later in the week assuming the temps hold steady...

 

[quintinp]

I finally finished my new incubator today. My current incubator is really bad and I've lost a lot of my first batch of eggs due to temperature fluctuations. So I built a new one - many thanks to all the ideas on this forum, I couldn't have figured it out without them!

It's a cooler - with a water heater thermostat wired to a light bulb, and a computer fan wired separately. There is a pan for water at the bottom (but I will need to get a smaller one - the humidity is running too high). And I have a water wiggler with a thermometer, and 3 air holes at different heights, and some bottles of water to hold heat.

I plugged it in earlier today - I've played with the thermostat a bit but I think it's perfect now - the water wiggler is right around 99.5 and holding steady.

So does it look okay? I will be getting some new eggs later in the week assuming the temps hold steady...

I like how it looks, I bet it holds quite a few eggs.
I think it is great that you are getting good temperatures in the water wiggler, but you made a beginners mistake with the thermostat (No offense)

I was just wanting to let you know that your thermostat needs to be closer to the light bulb. The back of the thermostat needs to be within an inch and a half to get the best temperatures. It looks like it could be moved fairly easily, due to you having a lot of excess wire.

I think getting a 1/4 inch wooden dowel to mount the thermostat closer to the light bulb.

Here is a link to my page, it shows what my cooler incubator looks like.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-chick-factory-incubator

 

[kahlua]

Thanks, I will fix the thermostat tonight.
I also forgot to ask - what wattage is best for the bulb? It's a large cooler - I have a 75W in there right now, just because it's what I have on hand, but should I switch it out for something else?

 

[3forfree]

As long as the temps are ok, run the bulb you have. Looking at your pvc and hardware cloth it looks like there may be quite a gap between the pvc and the side of the bator. Don't want any chicks getting caught in there. same with that open pvc coupling, something could be stuffed in there to keep the chicks out.

 

[kahlua]

Oh forgot about that - I was planning to make some baskets out of hardware cloth and will just use what's in there now as a shelf.
I've got the thermostat moved - humidity is still a tiny bit high but otherwise, so far so good!!

 

[daze333]

If humidity is high, you may need more ventilation? Good luck!