Will a 100 watt Bulb

[CluckyJay]

Will a single bulb be enough to heat a converted mini-fridge incubator? I am gonna use computer fans to circulate the air. I want to hatch Muscovy duck eggs. Chickens/quail too, maybe.

 

[colebarnhart]

It will be way too hotttt!!!! Try a 40W or probably a 25W, I think you'll be surprised how hot 100W will get inside your homemade bator, you could potentially even ruin your temp gauges if left too long.

 

[CluckyJay]

Ohh, I can use a less expensive bulb--awesome. LOL

I will try the 25 watt and then bump it up if we need to. Thank you!

 

[colebarnhart]

Are you going to have a therm connected to it? If so you might be able to use whatever watt bulb you want. You might even want to try putting alum foil over 1/2 of the bulb and see how the temp does. I don't know what size your mini-fridge is but you'll probably have to try out a few different ones especially if your going without a therm.

 

[CluckyJay]

I am scared to wire up the computer fan ...do I need a fan or will lack of one cause poor hatching?

 

[CluckyJay]

The original plan was to use a water heater therm. I really don't know how to wire this stuff and my hubby isn't very helpful with it, LOL. I figured the fan out but I am scared to leave DIY electrical stuff plugged in, lol.

I was thinking about just adding a thermometer to it. We have one that gages temp and humidity.

 

[colebarnhart]

Don't feel bad, neither one of you. I tried to make a homemade bator and then gave up and went and bought one. But now after buying one that is a piece of crap, I'm now back to thinking of making my own again, lol!!!

The key to hatching in my opinion is all about the temp and not so much about turning, humidity, and etc. So yes a fan(s) will help with getting the temp more constant and uniform throughout the inside of the bator. The DIY plug in stuff should work fine as long as you elec tape it up good, I got a fan at BestBuy for around $8 and used and old cell phone charger that I didn't use or need to splice into it and it works great.

P.S. What does DH mean, I see it typed all the time, is it Dad/husband, dumb husband, douchebag husband?

 

[farm&countrygirl]

I'm not exactully sure but I think it will be okay. I have hatched a few eggs on my kitchen counter with a desk lamp and a 60 or 70 watt light bulb, in my case there were 4 eggs in a homemade foil pan but because your is in a mini fridge and not in open air like my experience was it might need to be lower but also the 100 watt could work in theory too because a mini fridge is bigger than a foil pan. So really as long as the light bulb keeps it the right temperature in there then it shouldn't matter too much. Hope I helped

 

[momofpets]

DH can mean all of the above. But generally, it means Dear Husband!

 

[cmom]

I have a 15 watt bulb in my home made incubator. I can't cook the eggs but the temp can get to a little over 102 degrees. I have a fan at one end blowing towards the bulb and the temp stays pretty even on both ends of the incubator. I have the bulb on a dimmer switch.