trying with a home made incubator, (couldn't afford a thermostat)

[chickensducks&agoose]

okay, I convinced my husband to let me try to hatch 5 barnyard mix eggs. Roosters are both Delaware, Hens are as follows: 2 EEs, 1 Golden Comet, 3 delaware, and a cuckoo maran. (my buff orp is still mommying her miracle xmas chick)....so i am trying to hatch 2 EE eggs, 1 purple delaware egg, and 2 other ones that could have come from anybody. I've got a double cooler set up, tried it with a red bait cooler, too hot, too close to the eggs... put the whole bait cooler on it's side inside of a free styrofoam cooler, omaha steaks!, moved the eggs to the far side, poked vent holes, mesh sponge dealie copied from the gopherbator, and have the lid cracked enough that the temp is staying pretty solid... i'm a stay at home mom, spend most of my time at home, so I;m checking it super often.... raising/lowering the lid.... I am hopeful.... and the whole thing cost less than $5.... 2.50 for coolers and glass for viewing, and then the lightbulb. already had a humidity/temp....

 

[gabrielle1976]

Im crossing my fingers for you..

If it was me I would turn in pop cans borrow from a friend wash someones luandry whatever to scrounge up the 10-15 bucks for the lower whater heater thermastat. But go with what you need to do .
Oh and if it stays to warm you could always try a lower wattage of bulb maybe .

 

[LoveMyBirds]

I just bought a lower Hot Water Thermistat at Lowes for around $8.

I haven't tried it yet, since I'm waiting on my Auto Turner before putting everything together..

good luck to you..

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I experimented with it (all night), and got it to sit at 99.7 that is with a roll of tape holding the lid open... the humidity is low, 40%, and I've got to figure that out....it's got lots of water in the bator, i actually dreamed last night that the eggs were floating in water (they're not, they're safe).... how can i get it more humid? I have 1/4 inch of water on the whole bottom of the bator (middle of the night idea... didn't seem to help), and a wet sponge protected by wire mesh, underneath the egg basket... i saw a humidifier at the thrift store yesterday, maybe if I got it, so the air in the bathroom was super humid....?

 

[pdsavage]

what day are you on?
40 humidity should be fine untill day 18 then you up the humidity to about 75....
You can up it by adding warm wet wash cloths