Will my homemade egg incubator work?

[Jo-Anne White]

Good Morning

I had to make my own egg incubator last night as my usually dedicated hen has decided not to lay on her eggs this time around, She has laid fourteen eggs so far & has been done for about a week or so now & I'm worried the eggs will go bad. I have gotten some really good ideas off of the internet " mostly this site" so thank you all!!!

Ok so my incubator is really basic, I took a small fish tank & closed three sides with brown paper attached a lamp with a 100 watt globe added a small bowl with water & a sponge & bought a new temperature gauge that measures both the temp & the humidity.

Had it running through the night " without eggs" & it maintained a temp of 102 & a 52% humidity is that right? and the big question will this work if I manage to maintain this throughout the twenty one days???

Also if in case of a electrical blackout how much of the humidity & temperature can I afford to loose before it harms the eggs?

What should I lay the eggs on? or can i simply use a egg box? how should i place the eggs on their sides or pointed end up?


This is a pic of the incubator before I switched the lamp on

Thank you
Jo

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would probably use an egg carton but it is big end up not pointy end. You can pull the eggs out of the carton and lay on their side the last 3 days but not imperative. If you do put some paper towels or something else in there to keep the eggs from rolling too much and to give the chicks better footing or they'll have leg problems.
I would shoot for something closer to 100 degrees. If your thermometer is off by 2 degrees and it's actually 104 that will cook the eggs.
Had the eggs been sat on for any length of time?

 

[Jo-Anne White]

Hi there, no she has not laid on the eggs at all she laid the last one about a week ago & it now looks like she is starting to make a new nest on the other side of the coop, thank you for your advise I didn't even think about putting something down to support their footing. This batch is running trial & error & advice of others I'm afraid. Thanx again for the reply ill try get my temp down to a 100

 

[Jo-Anne White]

I put my eggs in earlier tonight big end up like you suggested do I have to turn the eggs every so often or do I just leave them alone from this point on?

 

[Jessshan8]

Hey there,
I have successfully hatched eggs from a homemade incubator made from an old aquarium. I would, like previously mentioned try to get the temp down to 99 to 100 deg F. Temps too high could cause the chick to be very weak and could cause the chick to perish. You could do this by reducing the wattage of bulb ie: 60 watt to a 40 watt bulb. Incubation temp is 99.5F. The humidity is fine at 50% for the first 19 days. The incubation time is about 21 days + or - 1 day. You should turn the eggs an odd number of times per day minimum of three times per day. Turning for the first 19 days then stop turning and raise the humidity to about 65 to 75 %. During the last three days do not touch the eggs or open the incubator as this may reduce the humidity and could cause the chick to get stuck in the egg and also perish. I am not telling you this to discourage you but to possibly help you increase your chances of success. It is very rewarding seeing new fuzzy butts chirping away.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

.... You should turn the eggs an odd number of times per day minimum of three times per day. Turning for the first 19 days then stop turning and raise the humidity to about 65 to 75 %. ...

X2
all good advice.
you can put something under one end/side of the carton and switch to the other side to tilt the whole carton.

 

[Jo-Anne White]

Hi there
Thank you all for the great advice, but i think i might have killed the embryos on day five my incubator went up to a 113 deg!!!! for about an hour & a half. I haven't given up I am now on day 10 & it looks like something might be happening but not sure what to look for so will probably just wait out the 21 days & see what happens.

What do you guys think are they dead?

Thanks Jo