Homemade Egg Incubator

chris_p

New Member
A little over a week ago I made an egg incubator out of an old cooler, a lamp, a water heater thermostat and a fan from a humidifier. I wired the light from a lamp to the thermostat to regulate the temperature and cannibalized a humidifier for the fan to circulate the heat and humidity.

I found the design for the incubator here.

So far it has cost me about $15. I had to buy the thermostat from Lowes for about $8 and I ordered a thermometer/hygrometer for about $7 from Amazon.com.

Yesterday, I candled the eggs, and it looks like two of the three are developing. It's hard to tell since this is the first time I have incubated eggs.

The problem for me is that I don't know if the neighbor's rooster fertilized my Rhode Island Red chicken. They have a Bantam/Red cross rooster. My chicken is a Red. I actually had purchased three Red chicks and raised them, but two of them have died so far.

Here is a pic of the incubator:

0003gfee


And here are the eggs (my wife crocheted the egg cozy):

0003h7d7


And here is the last of my Reds:

00036dtq


Keep your fingers crossed that this actually works.
 
J

jaybeeztoo

Guest
A little over a week ago I made an egg incubator out of an old cooler, a lamp, a water heater thermostat and a fan from a humidifier. I wired the light from a lamp to the thermostat to regulate the temperature and cannibalized a humidifier for the fan to circulate the heat and humidity.

I found the design for the incubator here.

So far it has cost me about $15. I had to buy the thermostat from Lowes for about $8 and I ordered a thermometer/hygrometer for about $7 from Amazon.com.

Yesterday, I candled the eggs, and it looks like two of the three are developing. It's hard to tell since this is the first time I have incubated eggs.

The problem for me is that I don't know if the neighbor's rooster fertilized my Rhode Island Red chicken. They have a Bantam/Red cross rooster. My chicken is a Red. I actually had purchased three Red chicks and raised them, but two of them have died so far.

Here is a pic of the incubator:

0003gfee


And here are the eggs (my wife crocheted the egg cozy):

0003h7d7


And here is the last of my Reds:

00036dtq


Keep your fingers crossed that this actually works.

Cool :yay:

I hatched ONE under a lamp. I just had the egg sitting in a box. When it hatched it thought I was it's mother. She was a cute little hen. I miss Tick Tick.
 

BeenSpur'd

I love her wild,wild hair
That was nice of the wife to knit you that cozy. I have a store bought incubator and in the directions it says to put the eggs directly on the wire, the eggs need a rough surface to hatch on. I hope the cozy isn't too soft for them. I wish you luck. I miss hearing the little peep, peep, peeps after they hatch. Had my chicks in the kitchen for a month before I put them out in the pen. Two survived, got one hen and one rooster. They are in with the original hen and rooster I bought at the county fair. Some day I'm going to get a banty hen so she can sit on the eggs that my chickens lay cause they don't have a clue. :lmao:
 

Cowgirl

Well-Known Member
That's a neat set-up. I just have one question....why would you incubate eggs this late in the year? :confused: :lmao:
 

chris_p

New Member
That was nice of the wife to knit you that cozy. I have a store bought incubator and in the directions it says to put the eggs directly on the wire, the eggs need a rough surface to hatch on. I hope the cozy isn't too soft for them. I wish you luck. I miss hearing the little peep, peep, peeps after they hatch. Had my chicks in the kitchen for a month before I put them out in the pen. Two survived, got one hen and one rooster. They are in with the original hen and rooster I bought at the county fair. Some day I'm going to get a banty hen so she can sit on the eggs that my chickens lay cause they don't have a clue. :lmao:

I have a Bantam and I pull the eggs. She lays right now and I don't want her to get broody and stop laying.

I googled the phrase, "eggs need a rough surface to hatch on." This was from a site on incubation: " Also important is helping the hatchlings
get on their feet by providing a rough surface to give them traction. A piece of mesh screen or cloth works well. The rough material can be removed from the brooder once the chicks are up and moving around."

I'm sure the crocheted mat will be fine. I was worried about damaging or breaking the eggs when I pick them up and lay them back down while turning them.

I guess I'll know in about 11 days or so.
 

chris_p

New Member
That's a neat set-up. I just have one question....why would you incubate eggs this late in the year? :confused: :lmao:

I did the math. When (and if) they hatch, they will need to be at 95 degrees F for the first week. I will then drop it by 5 degrees every week after that, like I did when I originally got the chicks. By March, they should be ready to go outside with the other chickens.

I have a covered pen to keep them separate from the other chickens until they are accustomed to each other. That was a suggestion in one of the books I have on raising chickens for introducing new chickens to an established flock.
 

Cowgirl

Well-Known Member
I did the math. When (and if) they hatch, they will need to be at 95 degrees F for the first week. I will then drop it by 5 degrees every week after that, like I did when I originally got the chicks. By March, they should be ready to go outside with the other chickens.

I have a covered pen to keep them separate from the other chickens until they are accustomed to each other. That was a suggestion in one of the books I have on raising chickens for introducing new chickens to an established flock.

So are you going to keep them outside with a heat lamp? That's going to get expensive.
 

chris_p

New Member
So are you going to keep them outside with a heat lamp? That's going to get expensive.

Nope. I have a kerosene heater for my workshop which provides decent ambient temperature. They'll stay there in an insulated cage I made for the first three chicks I purchased. I use a red light bulb like commercial breeders in conjunction with a space heater. It provides consistent temperature needed to raise the chicks. When they get bigger, I'll move them into a larger cat cage I have modified.

I really have put thought into this. The reason why I did not try to just hatch them under a light bulb is I'd like to start raising heritage turkeys on a small family farm. I'll need a more controlled, consistent setup for maintaining temperature and humidity than just a light bulb for that.

Also, I have an engineer's brain and enjoy making things.
 

Cowgirl

Well-Known Member
Nope. I have a kerosene heater for my workshop which provides decent ambient temperature. They'll stay there in an insulated cage I made for the first three chicks I purchased. I use a red light bulb like commercial breeders in conjunction with a space heater. It provides consistent temperature needed to raise the chicks. When they get bigger, I'll move them into a larger cat cage I have modified.

I really have put thought into this. The reason why I did not try to just hatch them under a light bulb is I'd like to start raising heritage turkeys on a small family farm. I'll need a more controlled, consistent setup for maintaining temperature and humidity than just a light bulb for that.

Also, I have an engineer's brain and enjoy making things.


The red bulb is the heat lamp I mentioned. :yay: Good luck! What breed of turkeys are you going to raise? My friend has some bourbon reds. They're very neat birds.
 

BeenSpur'd

I love her wild,wild hair
Be careful of the humidity. I hatched out some peacocks a few years back and most of them were deformed in the legs from too much humidity and died within a week. I had put a pan of water in the incubator thinking it was too dry. It wasn't and what a heartache that was watching all but two flailing about knowing they weren't going to make it very long.
 

chris_p

New Member
Be careful of the humidity. I hatched out some peacocks a few years back and most of them were deformed in the legs from too much humidity and died within a week. I had put a pan of water in the incubator thinking it was too dry. It wasn't and what a heartache that was watching all but two flailing about knowing they weren't going to make it very long.

There is a site that gives you the temps and humidity for most fowl. That's why I bought the hygrometer. I've found listings for turkeys on other sites.
 
Top