How to Make a Simple Homemade Incubator for Chicks: 11 Steps

Table of Content

• Put the Light Bulb
• Best Incubator For Chicken Eggs With 100 Efficiency Chicken Hatchery Chicken Egg Incubator
• How do you keep a bird egg warm without a heat lamp?
• Step 2: Making Ventilation and Exhaust
• How do you tell if an egg is alive or dead?
• Make a Pallet Workbench in Under 2 hours
• A Frame Chicken Coops For Keeping Small Flock Of Chickens

The most notable is the difference between the infertile and fertile egg. I have also added a glass jar of water into the top box as a second heat sink. You’ll be using duct tape in one or two situations. The core of your DIY egg incubator should ideally be made of Styrofoam. This particular material has tremendous insulating properties, which is the main reason why we recommend sticking with it. Ideally, you should get a big chunk of Styrofoam; optimally, a Styrofoam box.

Instead one 100W lamp, try connecting 2 x 50W in parallel... Drops dangerously low in this time period, you will likely have catastrophic losses in your unhatched eggs. We were having trouble keeping the temperature stable, with the eggs closer to the heater dying of too much heat, and the ones on the other side were too cold to develop. I have found that two sets of two sponges keeps the humidity up, and I have to cover the box at night to keep it warm enough. I resorted to manually turning the new eggs 3-5 times a day. I attached some polystyrene to the bottom of the fan using double sided tape to keep it up off of the bottom of the box to increase the airflow.

Put the Light Bulb

There are numerous little details you could have missed by accident, so the testing phase is fairly important. Small note – incubators with poor humidity conditions can impact the respiration of new hatchlings. Chicks might not be able to come out of their shell. Budget thermometers usually cost around $15 to $20, so there’s no need to go with boutique models that come supplied with all the fancy features.

It can be a simple cardboard box but it must contain a heat lamp, bedding, chick food and water. Candling allows you to detect infertile and bad eggs. It involves holding an egg against a bright light in a dark room to see inside. You can purchase a candling device, but for most situations, a small, bright flashlight will do.

Best Incubator For Chicken Eggs With 100 Efficiency Chicken Hatchery Chicken Egg Incubator

The insulated cooler helps maintain just the right internal temperature from top to bottom. Runs on solar power and is ideal for off-grid living or anyone looking to reduce their electrical usage. This solar powered incubator will keep eggs at the desired temperature of 99 to 102 degrees Fahrenheit without the use of electricity.

B) You can affect the humidity of the core’s atmosphere by sponging the water up. Squeeze in some more water in order to increase the core’s humidity level. Since you can’t simply pour some water down because electricity’s involved, you should put a bowl of clean water on the side where eggs are. A sponge can be placed inside the bowl for easy water quantity adjustment. The hole should be just about big enough to fit the smaller end of a 25-w light bulb. You can carve it a bit smaller and then use the bulb’s end to gently pierce the remainder of the hole.

How do you keep a bird egg warm without a heat lamp?

If they are struggling with this process, you can just proceed with removing the top part of the eggshell and get them out. You have to observe them after doing so carefully. It makes take up to at least twelve hours after cracking the shell for the chick to come out of its shell completely. It is a crucial step to make sure that you prevent the danger of catching fire. But, a cooler may also work as efficiently as the box. Using a dimmer, you can adjust the brightness until your temperature becomes accurate.

Very good pointing out I forget to include vent holes for fresh air coming in,putting two bulbs is also a good option. Has anyone got a circuit diagram for the incubator lamp, thermostat & fan? Then on top of the box I balanced the egg tray and motor, attaching it to the end of the box with a little piece of tying wire. I cut a hole in the side of the box to view the thermometer without totally opening the box up. Before you actually start using the incubator, you should take it out for a test drive and make sure that all of the features are properly functional.

Take note of every little change that’s happening inside the incubator each day, and optimally, keep a log. Follow the temperature and humidity parameters, make changes when you need to, and you should be completely fine. Since incubators aim to recreate a natural hatching environment for little chicks, you’ll also need to introduce a humidity source. Again, just like it’s important for Styrofoam to not catch fire, it’s equally important for it to not get wet. Water and electricity usually don’t go too well hand in hand. An egg incubator is not simply a ‘storage place’ for little chicks.

An appliance light bulb would be a perfect choice due to its compact size. If you have access to a non-working freezer, this DIY build could be almost free. All the little chicks it will enable you to hatch will be profit to you.

How do you tell if an egg is alive or dead?

Hatchability decreases rapidly when eggs are stored for more than 10 days. If the eggs must wait longer than five days before hatching, place them in the refrigerator in an egg carton. Prop the egg carton at a 45-degree angle to increase the eggs' chance of hatching. They can stay in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. I use a large stand-up refrigerator to incubate my reptile eggs.

It’s important to note that the materials we’ve discussed above are needed for ‘building an incubator from scratch’. The amount of the materials you’ll use largely depends on what type of design you want to go for. Keep your humidity between 40-50% days 1-18, then increase to 50%-60% on days 18-21.