If you don’t already have chickens, find a friend or a nearby farmer who does and ask if you can buy some fertile eggs. Collect them as soon as possible after laying and transfer to the incubator. If you already have a flock of chickens that includes a rooster, the majority of the eggs they lay will be fertile. The incubator should be placed in a location with the least possible fluctuation in temperature and humidity throughout the day – a basement is ideal, a sunny window is not.
Or, you can rotate manually according to the instructions below. High-end incubators have a built-in egg turning device, but there are also standalone egg turners that can be placed inside a homemade incubator to do the job. The finely tuned ecosystem inside a chicken egg is kept in balance by constantly changing the position of the egg. Much of the fussing that a hen does over her eggs comes from an evolutionary instinct to constantly move them about. One time-saving feature is a device to rotate the eggs automatically. These have a sensor that goes inside the incubator with an LED screen on the outside that shows the temperature and humidity readings without having to open the incubator and ruin your carefully calibrated environment. If you’re not working with an incubator that has these instruments built in, opt for a combo thermometer/hygrometer with an external display. Low-end commercial incubators don’t amount to much more than this, but the more you pay, the more automated the temperature and humidity controls will be.Ī high-quality thermometer and hygrometer (a device to measure humidity) are the most important tools of incubation cheap models are usually not accurate enough. An adjustable heating pad or a light bulb on a dimmer switch will suffice for the heat source and a pan of water with a sponge in it will make the air humid. Homemade versions usually involve some sort of insulated box – a cheap Styrofoam cooler will do. Ventilation: Egg shells are porous, allowing oxygen to enter and carbon dioxide to exit incubators need to have holes or vents that allow fresh air to circulate so the fetuses can breathe. Humidity: 40 to 50 percent humidity must be maintained for the first 18 days 65 to 75 percent humidity is needed for the final days before hatching.
Temperature: The eggs need to be kept at 99.5 degrees at all times just one degree higher or lower for a few hours can terminate the embryo. No matter how fancy or jerry-rigged, all incubators must accomplish a few basic things: You can also go the DIY route, which saves money, but is almost as much work as sitting on the eggs yourself. With top-of-the-line incubators, you put in an egg, close the door and out pops the chick three weeks later. Farm Groups Urge Legislators to Allow Changes to the Packers and Stockyards Actĭepending on how many eggs they accommodate and how automated they are, Incubators run from around $50 for the homesteader favorite ‘Hova-Bator’ into the thousands of dollars for commercial scale incubators.
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