Newbie just started homemade incubator...help please.....

[beaches4me]

I just got my first homemade incubator up and running, still air. What I am wanting to know is how to I get the temperature to lower some....it has been sitting around 104-107 or so and the humidity has been staying around 38-45% but no higher....any advice on what I could do to fix these small ailments? Please please!!

 

[Pyxis]

Sounds like your thermostat needs a tweak - you want it to be 101.5 degrees measured at the top of the eggs - 104 to 107 will kill them As for higher humidity, where you are right now will probably be fine for the first 18 days of the hatch (25 if you're doing ducks, which I see from your avatar you might be ). To get it up for lockdown, the key is to add more surface area for water, such as damp paper towels, sponges, etc. I use baby food jars with a sponge sticking out the top of them. Also, with the temp lowered a little, the humidity will also be a little higher just from that.

 

[beaches4me]

If you don't mind me asking, what were you meaning my thermostat was needing a tweak? I just thought I would need to find a way to lower the temperature? I have put holes in the side where the light is, front, back and top and it is still sitting around that temperature. eeek!

 

[Pyxis]

Oh, okay, so you don't have a thermostat attached to your light? I'm thinking that's the problem then. I would go ahead and get some kind of thermostat such as a water heater one and wire it to the light. Otherwise you could try a lower wattage bulb but that's not going to be able to keep the temperature very steady and you could end up with a lot of temp swings which isn't going to be good for incubating.

Also the holes are probably contributing to your humidity issues - the more holes you put in, the more humidity is going to be let out.

 

[beaches4me]

Oh, so should I tape the holes back up? Not sure if I can get a thermostat or not especially if it costs very much. Any other way of getting my temperature to even out to the temperatures I will be needing?

Oh and the light that I am using is a small round 25 watt bulb that I screwed into one of those plug in adapters...light in on one end, plug on the other.... and you just plug an extension cord to the plug screwed into the light....Not sure how I would be able to wire a thermostat to that...

 

[Pyxis]

Hmmm...you could then try a lamp dimmer switch to lower the temp a bit, but I don't know how stable that would be for you. Water heater thermostats aren't too expensive (around $15-$20) but you would have to wire the light up to it - there are tutorials on how to do that on Youtube. The really easy option is to use a plug in reptile thermostat - that's what I used for my first incubator because I had an extra laying around since I also have reptiles - but they are on the pricey side, around $80 last I checked.

You'll want to leave some holes for oxygen exchange since the growing embryos need oxygen, but too many can cause heat loss and humidity loss problems so you might want to patch a few up if you have a ton of them.

 

[beaches4me]

Thought maybe these pictures 'might' help a little, showing a little insight on with what I am working with. Nervous about getting this right so I can get some new babies into it for the Hatchalong....

 

[Pyxis]

I think if you don't want to fool around with wiring to a thermostat or drop money on the reptile kind I was talking about, a lamp dimmer switch might help. It would dim the bulb so it doesn't get so hot. There will still probably be temp swings, but probably less chance of it getting so high and killing all the embryos.

Like this: http://www.amazon.com/Lutron-TT-300...1448940076&sr=8-3&keywords=lamp+dimmer+switch

 

[beaches4me]

Thanks for all of your help!! I will see what I can do about trying one of the things you have suggested....May not be able to do the reptile light but trying out one of the other two.Thank you very much!!

 

[Pyxis]

Thanks for all of your help!! I will see what I can do about trying one of the things you have suggested....May not be able to do the reptile light but trying out one of the other two.Thank you very much!!

You're welcome and good luck! Hope you hatch lots of little chicks