Once you know you can run it for 24 hours and maintain temperature and humidity you should be ready to add some eggs. You may need to poke holes in the box to lower the humidity or reduce or increase the wattage of your bulb to help with the temperature, two other options are using a dimmer on the light and using a sponge with more or less surface area to adjust humidity. Once you run your DIY egg incubator for 24 hours you will have a better idea of how warm your box will sit at. 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. On the other side I placed the thermometer, pointing out toward the specially cut window. On the end where the plugs go in, I sat a glass of water, the fan that is raised off the ground slightly, and the light bulb. This will hold the egg tray up away from the light/heat, water and the fan. Inside the larger box I placed a smaller box. The next step is to poke holes in the box and tape on all the plugs, then re-cover all the holes to keep the heat in. I cut a hole in the side of the box to view the thermometer without totally opening the box up. 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. I had to attach a plug to the motor that came with the egg tray, I did this first and made sure it was working. You can buy most of these supplies from Amazon. Styrofoam Cooler Egg Incubator How to make an incubator step by step for chicken eggsĪn insulated box – double walled corrugated cardboard box, or two boxes that fit inside each other wellĪ smaller box to sit inside the larger one/s Here are a selection of other ways to make your incubator:ĭouble Cardboard Box Incubator – see below There are several different ways to make your own incubator at home. I have used a tray with an automatic egg turner, but you can manually turn them three times a day if you prefer.įor full incubation instructions read hereĬhicken vs Incubator – what is best? Different types of DIY Incubators It takes 21 days on average for an egg to hatch once incubation begins, 18 days of 60% humidity and turning at least 3 times per day, the last 3 days you want the humidity to be up closer to 70-75% and stop turning the eggs to allow the chicks to get into optimal hatching positions. If the temperature gets too hot it will kill the egg and it will stop developing. To get around these issues it is suggested that you should install a fan in your DIY incubator to keep the air moving and you can use a thermostat to turn the heat source off and on as required.Įggs can handle some fluctuation in ambient temperature, as long as the internal temperature of the fertile egg does not drop too low for too long. It is very easy to overheat the eggs in a homemade incubator, and it can be difficult to maintain proper humidity. DIY incubators are notorious for being a great idea, with low success rates, but if you have a source of free fertile eggs it could be worth a try! Requirements of a homemade egg incubatorĬhicken eggs must be held at 37.5C (99.5F) and humidity should be 50-65% during incubation and 70-75% at hatching time. I have built our own egg incubator for a fraction of what you can buy them for. This post contains affiliate links, this means at no extra cost to you, we make a commission from sales. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions in partnership with a qualified health care professional. Please read: This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prevent any disease.
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