Small, affordable incubator suggestions?

[Boobumpbeanbear]

Hi, I got the little 7 egg incubator earlier this year as we had 4 eggs that needed incubating after the mum got killed. We added 2 extra air holes in the lid and put a hygrometer in with the eggs. We didnt add water at all as our humidity was already quite high and left temp at 37.5 until lockdown. At lockdown we removed the egg tray and lay them flat on a rubber mat, lowered the temp to 37.0 and taped the lid on slightly. 3 of the 4 eggs hatched perfectly, 1 died earlier in the incubating process.

 

[Zen Wildlife Rescuer]

Hi, I got the little 7 egg incubator earlier this year as we had 4 eggs that needed incubating after the mum got killed. We added 2 extra air holes in the lid and put a hygrometer in with the eggs. We didnt add water at all as our humidity was already quite high and left temp at 37.5 until lockdown. At lockdown we removed the egg tray and lay them flat on a rubber mat, lowered the temp to 37.0 and taped the lid on slightly. 3 of the 4 eggs hatched perfectly, 1 died earlier in the incubating process.

Wow! They’re so cute! I really want to get the Brinsea 7 egg one but it’s just wayyy out of my budget. I can’t afford that one right now especially since I’m gonna only use it once or twice in a year at most.

 

[Boobumpbeanbear]

We got the little 7 egg incubator for the same reason, we only needed it for this hatch but after it did work out well, I am tempted to do it again. It is very small though, 4 chickens eggs fit perfectly but as they hatched they didnt have much room. We needed to remove the shells quickly inbetween.

 

[Zen Wildlife Rescuer]

We got the little 7 egg incubator for the same reason, we only needed it for this hatch but after it did work out well, I am tempted to do it again. It is very small though, 4 chickens eggs fit perfectly but as they hatched they didnt have much room. We needed to remove the shells quickly inbetween.

Oh okay. Well! Looks like I might save up and get one of these then! Is your 7 egg one from Brinsea?

 

[Boobumpbeanbear]

No it is exactly the same as the image you posted, cheap from ebay.

 

[Zen Wildlife Rescuer]

No it is exactly the same as the image you posted, cheap from ebay.

That’s great, I’ll try it out! Just one question, did the one you got show how high the temperature and humidity was or was it just the temp?

 

[Ruby Rogue]

I'm happy with my DIY incubator and I've done two hatches with no real incubator and none of my chicks were deformed...if you need to constantly monitor a bottom line incubator then what's the point in spending over a hundred dollars on junk? I made my incubator for like 20 bucks and had an 80% hatch rate with little little finicking...

 

[Zen Wildlife Rescuer]

I'm happy with my DIY incubator and I've done two hatches with no real incubator and none of my chicks were deformed...if you need to constantly monitor a bottom line incubator then what's the point in spending over a hundred dollars on junk? I made my incubator for like 20 bucks and had an 80% hatch rate with little little finicking...

How did you get your humidity and temperature constant? Please let me know! I looked into how I can upgrade my incubator to make it more reliable. I found a digital temperature controller and was wondering if that would work. If you don’t mind, please let me know how you built yours!

 

[Ruby Rogue]

If you wanna see how I did it, I made a thread about it back when.

I'm sure there are lots of better designs than mine which use a thermostat to control the temperature.

I was able to monitor mine throughout the day and still saw very few temperature changes. I didn't monitor the humidity or add to humidity until day 18, which was as simple as just adding hot water to a shallow and wide dish...with rags sticking out of it. A few times I switched to a different wattage bulb to keep the temperature right.

I found the most important thing was to keep it in a room with little temperature fluctuation. A few good humidity monitors and thermometers. Run it empty for a few days and make sure it's right before you use it. I would definitely add the thermostat if you have it and know how to do that. I think that's the same as a digital temperature controller.

 

[Boobumpbeanbear]

The little incubator came with temperature only, i put a hygrometer in for humidity and periodically checked the temp with a different thermometer but it was always in range.