Chook Me!

How do you make a homemade incubator?

I want to try to make an incubator to hatch chickens. Is there a way to make it out of a shoebox or something? What temperature should I set it to? What kind of light to use? How many watts? How many eggs per incubator? Help me please! P.S I want to know if you can make a HOMEMADE one. Not one from a store.

Public Comments

1. Go to your local Feed Store and buy an incubator. This way here you can set the temp. and it will stay constant like they need.
2. A feed store has incubators. Little Giant is the brand. go on line to Little Giant or try Craig's list someone may have a used one. And they have the instruction in the box.
3. I made an incubator a couple of years ago, it didn't quite work but what I remember is that I used a fish tank, used a normal globe (75 watts I think) in a lamp (you could use a reptile globe which you can get from a pet store) and kept the temperature around 37 degrees-ish (from memory!) make sure you keep a thermometer in the enclosure. Rotate the eggs three times a day so they cook evenly and make sure you keep a dish of water in the tank, or moisten the shells occasionally. If you don't the chicks wont be able to break from their egg when they hatch. That's my two cents, hopefully someone with more experience can help you.
4. I made one from a foam cooler and 2 incandescent light fixtures. It has a dimmer switch to control the temperature. I have hatched dozens of guinea eggs in it and my neighbor used it to hatch ducks. I haven't used it to hatch chickens because I can buy day old chicks for less money than I can buy fertile eggs. I found the instructions in the book Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry.