So... I want to make a Crock Pot Incubator...

[yakitori]

Update to set up...

my cat’s water bowl fits perfectly in the crock pot.

Water is going directly into the pot, and cat bowl with eggs above The probe is sitting between the eggs and the bottom interior of catbowl...

No more messy plastic bags!

 

[yakitori]

I made some changes to the set up. Yes, *Again*

I switched the ceramic inner lining of the crock pot to a metal one (probably coated aluminum) from my zo rice cooker. This allows faster heat transfer and switching on and off of the heating element.



I also went back to the plastic bag, using it to hold the eggs rather than the liquid.



I’m getting a fluctuation of about 1.5 degrees from 37.3 - 38.8C
Not too terrible, but not great either. This would probably work better in a larger crock pot... which I do not have

I’m going to fiddle around a bit with the positioning of the probe and see if I can produce better results.

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I also tried the set up in my 2qt rice cooker, but the heating element is too strong and sends the temperature 2C higher to 39+C after kicking on and off.
——

The forehead thermometer arrived today, and so far my my kettle, the probe and the gun all agree on temperature


I’ll come back to measure the temperature of the eggs in a few hours...

 

[Chuckie chicken]

Cool experiment, I'll be following along, good luck!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I did hatch eggs in a crock pot one time. It had the kind of plug in with a turning knob and it had temps on the knob that got higher as you turned it. I had it as low as it would go.
Don't use the kind that just says high or low only.

 

[yakitori]

I did hatch eggs in a crock pot one time. It had the kind of plug in with a turning knob and it had temps on the knob that got higher as you turned it. I had it as low as it would go.
Don't use the kind that just says high or low only.

did you have a temperature controller? Unfortunately mine only has two settings...

 

[yakitori]

I bought an aquarium pump to circulate the water for even temperature distribution...

I wish I had a larger crock pot, oh well...

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One more update....

I took out the inner pot altogether and fitted a heavy duty trash bag cut to size directly inside the outer pot. This is to minimize the amount of time the heating element kicks on and off, as extended "on" times seem to drive temperatures higher.

I'm now consistently getting a better range of 0.8C (37.4C to 38.2C). Humidity is ball-parking at 50%. I'm not entirely sure how accurate my cheap little hygrometer is, I have 4 of them and they read within a few% of each other.

If all goes well I should be getting a hatch rate of at least 70%... one can dream right?

 

[yakitori]

They lady I’m getting the eggs from said she hasn’t collected enough yet, so I’ll be meeting up with her on Tuesday instead.

Meanwhile, I’ve settled for this setting...


This keeps the exposed side of the egg at around 37.2 (99F)and the unexposed side at around 38(100.5F) .

It’s been pretty consistent over the past few days of testing, so I’m hopeful I’ll get a decent hatch rate!

 

[yakitori]

Eggs are here! Here goes nothing



a mylar sheet on top to keep the heat in...


and a hand towel on top of that...

 

[yakitori]

Eggs were turned and temperature measured...

38.0-38.1C on bottom side
37.5-37.7C on exposed side
humidity was at 59%
(we’re in the middle of a heatwave and it’s super humid and stuffy right now )

This is the temp measured after the crock pot was on.
It will gradually sink back to 37C before the heat kicks in again...

edit: Just checked the heat cool cycle, and it’s about once every 45 minutes.

 

[NorthernMIFlock]

This is great! Following along with you and hoping for a successful hatch