Well that's pretty impressive. Unfortunately my husband isn't the craftiest. I don't think he can pull that off. Lol.
I unpacked the bator and it is bigger than I thought and yes it is very styrofoamy. My husband looks at me looking at it and asked if that's what I wanted. I said its different from what I thought it would be and told him a lot of people like them. We shall see.
I unpacked the bator and it is bigger than I thought and yes it is very styrofoamy. My husband looks at me looking at it and asked if that's what I wanted. I said its different from what I thought it would be and told him a lot of people like them. We shall see.
I do have a staggered hatch going on right now LOL I have a handful of marans and two OE's that are hatching right now. I just left them in my big cooler incubator while the others locked down and were hatched. They didn't get turned, the humidity was a little high for a few days, but they seem to be fine, they were all peeping this morning.
My homemade incubator is a BIG cooler - not a styrofoam one though, it's plastic. It's got a thermostat wired in to a light bulb, and also a computer fan. I have a few holes for ventilation, and I keep some water bottles in the bottom to hold heat. My temperatures holds very steady - but I'm thinking it could use a second fan, I have a feeling there might be some cooler spots. It's pretty big for one fan to keep ventilated! But other than that I can't complain. I think it'll be good for lockdowns, a little bit of fluctuation in temperature will be okay for the last 3 days, I'm just thinking it might cause issues if it's going on during the full incubation.
The cooler might have been $40, the thermostat and light bulb setting maybe $10-12, the computer fan about $8. I used some wire from an old box fan for the thermostat/light bulb. And I had to get a 12V plug for the fan.
I think this is the guide I followed for the wiring
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/home-made-incubator
I don't have a turner - I just turn them by hand.
This is mine - but I have made a couple of changes, this was when I first built it.
The back of the thermostat needs to be 1-2" from the light bulb. So I had to move it - I mounted it on a dowel and have it next to the bulb. Also the big pan was WAY too much water - I put the water bottles in the bottom now (to hold heat) and I just use a small bowl of water for humidity. For lockdown I use a bigger bowl with a sponge to increase surface area.
I also hatch in a wire basket I made out of hardware cloth - this keeps the chicks safe from the water, and from getting stuck in the PVC pipes.
e
