The effectiveness of homemade bators

thanks for the info. Would love to stay on but my job for today is to haul my composted coop cleanings to the garden so I can have my son till them in.
It is supposed to get up to mid 60's here today so should be a nice day to work outside.
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Hi
I have a friend who made hers outta that thick foam insulating boards you get at the hardware store. She glued it together. Bought a thermostat to control the heater element, which came out of a nasty dirty toaster oven. And she took a dead computer and hijacked the turbo fan. The fan was not enought so she bought a smaller clip on fan from the hardware store. And made a lever to manually turn the eggs. She can hold over a 100 eggs. Her hatch rate is over 90%. I think she said she put in 110 eggs and like a 100 hatched
It isn't pretty. Takes up more space then it should. But, works well. I have a few of the smaller Hova-Bator types which can do no better then Betty Jo's. So to build or not to build?
I bought a Hova-Bator on EBAY for around $50 that came with the fan. And bought the auto turner. The auto turner, there's no comparison. I can't do as good a job turning by hand.
But, the homemade incubator work well. Maybe build the Bator and get a few auto turners.
Best of both worlds
good luck
 
Hello, I was (still am) a total novice back in the Fall when I built an incubator out of a styrofoam cooler. I put in 20 eggs, and 15 hatched! Building the incubator did indeed make the success more satisfying. It was extremely easy to build; however, I took several days, maybe even a week, adjusting the amount of water and type of light bulb and changing the amount of ventilation until I was satisfied with consistent and desirable temps and humidity. Good luck!
 
thanks chickeneer! did you build a styro-bator? what type/size light did you find worked?

15/20 is a great hatch for your first try in a homemade bator! I'd be pleased with those results! Were they your own eggs?

My SIL has fertilized eggs, I'd ask her for some to try in my first attempt.
 
Hi Kikinono,

For my homemade bator, I used one of those thick styrofoam coolers with a tight fitting lid. I think it had been used to ship Omaha steaks or something. I tried different lights, night light, regular bulb, etc. I watched the thermometer & hygrometer (got both of those at the pet store for about $5) and experimented with different wattages until the temperature was right and stayed that way for an entire day. I ended up using a 9 watt bulb. I bought my fertilized eggs from a nearby farm. This is my first experience with any kind of poultry farming. I live in the city and have had to give most of the flock away, but we love having our remaining tiny little backyard "flock" and eating fresh eggs!

I do not pretend in any way to be an expert, but I just purchased an inexpensive aquarium hygrometer and thermometer set, used stuff that was in our garage, and spent less than $10 total on my bator. I was not terribly fussy or precise and had a great experience with my incubating/hatching. My chickens are Ameraucanas and lay green eggs.
 

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