Redneck, Aran, MissPrissy or anyone else that might be able to help...

[Chickfever]

I made my incubator last week. After almost a full week of trying to get my temp to be the same for more than a day at a time with a dimmer I decided to try the hot water heater thermostat. I have the exact same Therm and light kit as the one used here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8510

Do I have to put the bottom piece on the light kit? The one that MissPrissy has outside the box at the page above. Is it a bad idea not to have it? I don't want to burn my house down or anything.

 

[Poison Ivy]

Is it the little round brass ring showing on the outside of cooler? I used it to make the light fixture fit snug against the cooler. I didn't want the cooler to be bumped and then the light fixture fall inside and burn or melt the cooler. I did have to cut out a small hole for mine to fit right. As my cooler was wider then the screw bolt they gave us to use so mine sinks in a little more. Your going to love the incubator now that you have the water heater element in it. Mine stays at 100.5* once I found the right adjustment. Good Luck

 

[Chickfever]

We've been working for about 2 hours now trying to get it just right....crossing my fingers that it is now. I am attempting to use a water wiggler....let me make sure I have the right temps.... Mine doesn't have a fan so 101 right? There's a little bit of diff. in the air temp and the wiggler temp...is that okay? Which one do I go by?

And yes, that round ring was what I meant

.

And one more thing....my humidity has been right around 48%....when I stuck my probe in the wiggler, it dropped to 25% or so. Should I just assume that it is still 48% or do I need to get the humidity reading inside the wiggler up to 48%?


Thanks for all your help

!

 

[MandyH]

I made a hatcher with the light dimmer and that thing was super hard to get the temp to stay anywhere for more than 5 minutes. I still use it in emergencies but the water heater thing will be MUCH better. I don't use water wigglers so someone else will have to chime in on that.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Quote:
I use a wiggler in my incubator. I don't think you need concern yourself with what the humidity reads from the wigglers probe as the humidity inside of the egg would be 100% since it is liquid, the probe in the wiggler is not actually in the wigglers liquid. Does that make any sense? Read the humidity from the air inside the incubator and the temp from the wigglers probe.

Another thing to remember is that when you add your eggs to the 'bator, the temp will likely fall a bit- don't adjust it right away, just let the eggs rise to the ambient temp (assuming your temps were right prior to adding the eggs.)

 

[aran]

mate i have the thermostat, lightbulb and fan all on the floor of the bator to one side, not attached or anything just sitting there...has worked out pretty well...i have 9 new chicks in the brooder now and a few eggs at day 22 in the bator this morning!