How To Make An Incubator

It recently became quite popular to breed chickens at home. Chickens are often bred not for sale, but for one's own purposes. Unfortunately, all the necessary equipment (including an incubator) costs quite a lot of money. But making an incubator yourself is not a very difficult job. You, most likely, already have all the necessary materials.

Make An Incubator

1. Take a styrofoam container and cut a hole on its one end. In this hole there will be a lamp for the incubator. Insert there a socket from any lamp and a 25 watt lamp. Put duct tape around the hole on both inner and outer sides of the container to lower the risk of fire.

2. Divide the container into two parts and place a chicken mesh or other wire partition to fence the side with the lamp off. If you do not do it, your chickens can get a burn.

3. Now, place a thermometer and a manometer in the container for measuring humidity. They must be placed where eggs will lie. The main function of an incubator is maintenance of the proper temperature and humidity for eggs, so, the thermometer and manometer need to be precise.

4. Put a bowl with water in the container to maintain the appropriate humidity. Put a sponge next to it to control humidity and the amount of water in the bowl.

5. Cut a small hole in the container lid, which will let you watch what will be happening in the container. Cover this hole with a glass from a photo frame. Clearly, the hole has to be smaller than the glass. Fix the glass on the lid with duct tape.

6. Now it is the time to test the incubator. Before putting eggs in there, turn the lamp on and monitor the temperature and humidity there for a day. If the temperature or humidity is above or below the normal, make some changes, locate the lamp differenty, or pour more water in the bowl. The temperature should be around 37, 5 degrees Celsius. The optimal humidity for the first 18 days would be 40-50% and 65-75% for the last four days.

7. Now put a few eggs in the container. The eggs must be fertilized (that is why eggs bought in a grocery store would not be suitable). If you do not have laying hens and cocks, ask farmers or your acquaintances who may give you a few eggs. Place the eggs in the container close together.