- Apr 8, 2015
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Hi everyone, just discovered this thread so thought I'd share my experience of incubating/hatching eggs. Last year i successfully incubated eggs for the first time in a make-shift incubator that cost me nothing. I used a old cupboard with a glass door, put a light inside, a digital thermometer, some containers of water and a shoe box with a towel and the eggs in it. I had no humidity gauge so no idea what the readings were. I adjusted the temperature by opening and closing the door. That was kind of a pain because i had to keep checking on it day and night to make sure the eggs didn't get cooked! But it was worth itOut of 10 eggs 1 was infertile and 2 quit early on, the 7 others all made it successfully to hatch. I was really worried they'd not make it after reading all the problems people have with incubating and getting the conditions just right. Maybe it was just luck, but i think i did well considering i didn't spend a penny and made the incubator from things i had already in the house. This year I've had a broody hen so let her do the work. The chicks have been hatching over the past few days, but now she's left the nest and is sitting with the chicks on the floor instead and I've had to adopt the last egg which i currently have in my bra! I've candled it and it's starting to break into the air cell now and i can hear it pecking inside. Fingers crossed now for the bra method! lol
Update on my bra egg!
Chick is now well into the air cell and my bra is tweeting! I don't see any pip yet, but i feel it pecking and moving inside. This is pretty amazing![]()
(anyone that's not read my other post my broody left her last egg in the nest after the others hatched and i'm now incubating it in my bra!)
I had never heard of doing that but now that someone has explained it, it doesn't surprise me. This is very exciting!

Nope, not gonna do it. Really really want to, but not gonna![]()
Well, without being too direct.....men also have an area they could use to incubate eggs in.

I love my crow collar. But he has now figured out how to crow with on and tight. So got to figure something out.
My snowbird neighbors complain when they hear him in the middle of the day while they do yard work. They don't even hear him in the mornings.
So far the closest I heard to my neighbors complaining is someone caddy corner to me saying my rooster is getting pretty loud. That was the day before the toddler sock. Since then the sock method has worked. I can hardly hear him in the bathroom of the house which faces the coop. The crowing is a bit more high pitched but not as loud or sustained. He used to Errrr RRRRR ERRRRRRR. Now it's Uhhhhh- Uhh- Uuuuuuoooo which is rather squeaky. I try not to laugh every time I hear him.

Looking good. Is that all done with your pallet wood or is there some scrap of your own mixed in? When we built the coop we tried using as much pallet wood as possible but ended up buying several 2 x 4s as the pallet scrap was not long enough for what we needed.
On Wednesday afternoon I expect to become the owner of a non-working GQF 1200 series incubator (1202 or 1266 most likely, photos and description over phone leave much to be desired) and non-working Brower brooder. YAY!
Now...how do I borrow the truck and get the thing inside without explaining why I need the truck? LOL.
I am selling the Leahy 65-O redwood incubator that has been featured in all my recent webcam hatch-a-longs. It holds 65 chicken eggs, but only 40 or so turkey eggs and I need more capacity for hatching. I will probably rebuild my homebuilt incubator as a dedicated hatcher. If interested in the Leahy, let me know!
There are many reasons. Just use your Jedi Mind Powers. "
Stapling does suck! Ours kept jamming every 3rd staple putting it up. Just yesterday I started painting the run as the rain was getting to it. Let's just say it's not by best painting job since I'm using a roller and mashing it through the hardware cloth in some places.
