How to Make a Simple Homemade Incubator for Chicks part 1

Raising chickens at home has become popular recently since more people have become educated about the plight of hens raised in factory farms. Hatching chickens can be a fun family project, too. While the costs of buying an incubator are quite high, it is a relatively simple process to make one at home. You probably already have the ingredients sitting around your house right now.

1

Cut out a hole at one end of a styrofoam cooler. The hole will contain the light bulb and its socket. Insert the socket from any lamp and put in a 25 watt bulb.^[1] Place duct tape around the hole and the socket from inside and outside the cooler. This is very important in order to reduce the risk of fire.

• You can also use a small box, but a styrofoam cooler works well because it is insulated.

2

Divide the cooler in two sides. Using chicken mesh or some other hard wire mesh, partition off the side of the cooler where the light bulb sits. Doing this is important to protect the chicks from getting burned.

• Optional: Create a false bottom using chicken mesh a little above the floor of the cooler. This will make cleaning out the chicken poop easier once the chicks hatch.

3

Add your digital thermometer and humidity gauge. Place it on the side where the eggs will be. Since the main function of an incubator is to keep the temperature and humidity inside it at an optimal level, be sure that the thermometer/gauge has a high rate of accuracy..

4

Add in a bowl of water. This will be your humidity source. Put in a sponge, too, so that you can adjust the amount of water easily.

5

Cut a viewing portal in the cooler's lid. Using the glass from a picture frame, determine how big the opening needs to be. It should be a little smaller than the dimensions of the glass. Then secure the glass by using duct tape to fasten it in the opening.

• Optional: Make a hinge for the cooler's lid by attaching it to one side of the top with duct tape.

6

Test the incubator. Before putting in the eggs, turn on the light and monitor the temperature and the humidity for a day or so.^[2] Make adjustments to the heat and humidity until they are at optimal levels. The temperature should be kept at 99.5 degrees through-out the incubation. Optimal humidity varies: it should be between 40 to 50 percent for the first 18 days and 65 to 75 percent during the last four.

• To reduce the temperature, punch holes in the sides of the cooler. If it gets too low after you do that, tape up some of the holes with duct tape.
• For the humidity, sponge up some of the water to reduce it and squeeze out more water to increase it.

7

Put in your chicken eggs. It's important to find fertilized eggs: store-bought eggs will not work. If you don't have any chickens and a rooster yourself, a good way to find fertilized eggs is to contact local farmers. Once you have your eggs, cluster them close together, as this helps them maintain a constant temperature.

• The quality of the eggs depends on the health of the chickens they came from. Therefore, before purchasing eggs from a farm, ask the manager if you can inspect the facility. Free-range hens are almost always healthier than caged hens.
• An optimal hatching rate is between 50 and 85 percent.^[3]
• Laying hens are usually smaller in size and are bred to produce eggs. Meat hens, on the other hand, are bred for size. They tend to be larger birds that grow relatively quickly. However, there are chickens that are bred as dual-purpose birds. Ask the farmers you contact which variety they breed.