Stabilising the Incubator in Winter

[BethsJumboJaps]

Hi BYC, just wanting some advice/tips on how to stabilise the incubator during in Winter.

We are currently in the middle of winter in Australia and going through one of the coldest snaps we have experienced in some time. I live in the "Sunshine State" and it is currently snowing the heaviest it has in 30years and snow is extremely rare here...

My Brinsea Mini Advance is set in the middle of the living room, away from light and drafts. It is perfect during the day and stabilising (when we have all heaters on full), however, when we are going to bed the house is dropping to around 5 degrees celsius (around 41 degrees fahrenheit) and the incubator is dropping down several degrees and unable to get back up to the set temperature.

What is the best thing to do during this period? I definitely can't leave the heaters on overnight just for the incubator. Any tips, tricks or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

build a mini room from cardboard. The incubator still needs oxygen but you can put walls about a foot away to create a micro environment that won't let heat escape so quickly into the room.

 

[IceAngel]

build a mini room from cardboard. The incubator still needs oxygen but you can put walls about a foot away to create a micro environment that won't let heat escape so quickly into the room.

What a good idea! If you covered it with a thick down quilt overnight, would the eggs still get enough oxygen?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Don't cover the vent holes. Otherwise it would probably be OK.
It doesn't take a lot of protection to dramatically change the incubator response. I put a cotton glove on a window of a LG and it made a huge difference.

 

[jwalk2515]

If you have any plant/ seedling heat mats, you could place it on that and use the mini room above. My heat mats are 100 degrees at contact and you can put a tshirt over it if you need to back it off a little.

 

[BethsJumboJaps]

Thank your for all of your advice, it is greatly appreciated.

@jwalk2515 I have actually just purchased a seedling heat mat to use as extra heat in my brooder when the chicks hatch as I have an Ecoglow 20 and was concerned it wouldn't be warm enough during this time. It is arriving this Wednesday so I will definitely go down that road and use it. In the meantime I will try and create the mini room with a box. Thank you all again

 

[kingmt]

You can put an incandescent light bulb in your mini room will help heat it.

Check out this item I found on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=371374871249&alt=web
I think you use 220v if not you get the idea. I haven't bought from this seller. The one I buy from doesn't advertise both 220v & Celsius reading.