The effectiveness of homemade bators

[krishenschel]

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.

 

[lildinkem]

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

 

[lildinkem]

Far as a candler, I use a cardboard toilet paper roll and a flash lite. That works great,

 

[ranchhand]

I use an old slide projector for candling, it works quite well!

 

[chickeneer]

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!

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

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.

 

[dannyb]

87.00 for a hovobator with turner new on ebay

 

[chickeneer]

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.