Powerless incubator

[Avian Allie]

Hey all and welcome to hurricane season! So... I am supposed to get hit by a tropical storm and I have a (drumroll please) broody hen who has her nest under a buried tire where it gets flooded badly. This hen does not do well when I move her nest to a safer spot and has abandoned them before. If we lose power during the hurricane I have no way of brooding the eggs, so does anyone have a design for a powerless, indoor, incubator?

 

[sourland]

Instead of moving her nest, is there any way that you could raise it above the flooding?

 

[MGG]

Hey all and welcome to hurricane season! So... I am supposed to get hit by a tropical storm and I have a (drumroll please) broody hen who has her nest under a buried tire where it gets flooded badly. This hen does not do well when I move her nest to a safer spot and has abandoned them before. If we lose power during the hurricane I have no way of brooding the eggs, so does anyone have a design for a powerless, indoor, incubator?

Yeah, I would try to raise it like Sour said. If that's not possible try to move her. If that doesn't work, well, there aren't many options. How many eggs? Stay safe.

 

[Kiraeh]

Brinsea has a good article about power outages and temperature drops: https://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/PowerOff.aspx

But if you're anticipating an extended power loss and need to continue incubation under those circumstances(or perhaps it happens when your chicks are already hatching or close to it), things are looking different. What unpowered heat sources do you have? At my house, if the power's out a long time we use the wood stove, even in the summer, so I'd be looking to figure out a setup that can sit near, under or over the stove at an appropriate temperature and humidity- some combination of a big baking pan, maybe full of rice, then a towel, then the eggs. Couple of thermometers, cup of water, cover that all with an upside down Tupperware with one end propped up for ventilation, and see if I can get that setup in the right ballpark. Would take constant tending. Otherwise you're looking at solar maybe? Rotating hand warmers? Depends on your unpowered heat source, it'd be very tricky.

 

[Avian Allie]

Brinsea has a good article about power outages and temperature drops: https://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/PowerOff.aspx

But if you're anticipating an extended power loss and need to continue incubation under those circumstances(or perhaps it happens when your chicks are already hatching or close to it), things are looking different. What unpowered heat sources do you have? At my house, if the power's out a long time we use the wood stove, even in the summer, so I'd be looking to figure out a setup that can sit near, under or over the stove at an appropriate temperature and humidity- some combination of a big baking pan, maybe full of rice, then a towel, then the eggs. Couple of thermometers, cup of water, cover that all with an upside down Tupperware with one end propped up for ventilation, and see if I can get that setup in the right ballpark. Would take constant tending. Otherwise you're looking at solar maybe? Rotating hand warmers? Depends on your unpowered heat source, it'd be very tricky.
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Thankfully it looks like the storm should lean away from us, but for the next one I think I’ll rig up some candles in the oven and humidity gets so high in a hurricane it shouldn’t be a problem for a few days worst case. The hand warmers are a really great idea too, I’ll have to get some.

 

[Avian Allie]

The storm ended up hitting us, and bad news good news, my chicken ended up in the house and decided to sit on the eggs after about ten minutes. But now she doesn’t want to go back outside . Thank y’all for the suggestions.

 

[MGG]

The storm ended up hitting us, and bad news good news, my chicken ended up in the house and decided to sit on the eggs after about ten minutes. But now she doesn’t want to go back outside . Thank y’all for the suggestions.

Oh, I'm glad you got it all figured out!

 

[Paterino Del Galaxia]

Here is a great design of a powerless egg incubator, it does not absolutely make use of gas and electricity. It is an excellent backup incubator for emergencies such as power outages