Have you ever built an incubator?

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If so, what did you use, where did you get the instructions, what do you think works best, and what was the hatching rate? I have looked at plans for both wood and styrofoam incubators; just not sure which to try. I would like it to hold about 50 eggs.

-- Cathy N. (homekeeper86@sympatico.ca), February 28, 2002

Answers

Dear Cathy,

I have a stryofoam one, a small one,holds about 24 eggs, We had great success with it. Just set on table and plugged it in. You do have to turn the eggs everyday, Also for a science class My daughter hatch a dozen eggs with a heating pad, put newspapers real thick in box, and a piece of foam, and then the eggs, and dish towel on top of eggs, then set heating pad on low, and put that on top of eggs, and they all hatch.

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), February 28, 2002.


Cathy----we have built all sorts of incubators over the years---& some work better than others----- About two years ago hubby bought me a styrofoam one(for Mother's day) from a tractor supply place & it has an auto-egg turner---- I love it!!!!!!!! It has been well worth the money he spent on it---- we have hatched many chicks & ducks with it----(many roosters --- fancy ones I need to sell or give away---as I have tooo many right now)--------but I didn't realize how much I appreciated the auto egg turner/ until we got one--!!!! This one only holds about 2 dozen eggs ---but they come in different sizes--- one secret on matter what kind you have put plenty of water in the bottom for moisture--- & if you are hatching duck eggs spray them with warm water to keep the moisture content high-- also if you want hens----set the regular looking eggs----if you want roosters set the ones that look oblong---it has worked for us---- we just set what ever eggs we had the last setting & that is why we have soooo many roosters---as it is correct we set mostly oblong eggs!!! best wishes & good luck with what ever you do---Sonda

-- Sonda in Ks. (sgbruce@birch.net), February 28, 2002.

It never occurred to me to build an incubator. We just recently bought a Brower incubator on sale. It holds 42 chicken eggs and has enough headroom in it to hatch out emu type eggs and still use the egg turner.

From what I have read about incubators, the styrofoam ones cannot be disinfected easily.

Another tip I learned no matter what you use to incubate them. Buy one of those water weasels, water weenies, whatever they are called in your neighborhood, those water tubes that you can't hold on to. Insert your thermometer into the middle of it and keep it in the incubator. This way you will will know what the temperature of your eggs are, not just the air. I will be using my pampered chef instant read and I should be able to monitor the temp without opening the incubator.

-- Laura (Ladybugwrangler@hotmail.com), March 02, 2002.


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