DIY Incubator

Our family decided that we wanted to raise chickens for eggs. There are several options for doing so. You can hatch baby chicks from eggs, order day old baby chicks or order older chickens. I definitely wanted them from babies. Ordering day old chicks would have been a fine idea but I really felt that hatching them at home would be so much more rewarding. I thought it would be a good learning experience for the kids and so exciting to watch them hatch! The only downside to this method is that there is no sure guarantee that all of your eggs will hatch. 

The next step is to order everything you need. We ordered our fertile eggs from a site where you can choose your own breed and there is no minimum. (site is Mypetchicken.com). We chose some unique looking breeds and ones that lay unique looking eggs. 

To hatch eggs you need and incubator. You can order one online with many different features. Some are still air, some have a built in fan for air circulation. Some come with an automatic egg turner, some have a built in thermostat. They come in all different sizes and a wide range of prices. We ordered 6 eggs so the least expensive incubator that could hold that amount was about $55 on Amazon.com but it had bad reviews. I watched a bunch of youtube videos and picture tutorials and figured I could make one for about $25. I decided to share my experience because it's good to see different incubator characteristics and know what the hatch rates of it.

You will need:

 A styrofoam cooler with lid
2 picture frames (for the glass)
Roll of duct tape
Knife
Chicken wire
Wire cutters
Thermostat
Bowl (or two) and sponge for water
40 watt bulb
Socket
Small extension cord 
Cardboard or styrofoam egg carton

 First take the glass out of one picture frame. Cut a hole in the lid, the same size as the glass.

 Tape both sides of lid, securing the glass.

This is the top viewing window.

 Picture above is the inside of the lid. 


Picture to the right is the top.

 Next, move to the side of the cooler.

 Doing the same thing you did with the lid, cut out a rectangle the same size as the 2nd piece of glass.

I put mine to the right a bit because that's where the eggs will be sitting so I wanted the best view possible.

 Again, tape inside and out to secure glass.

This is your side viewing window.

 Next your going to cut about 2.5 feet of chicken wire.

I cut it a little more narrow on the part that sits on the bottom and wider at the top.

 Then you need to shape the wire to look something like this.


The chicks spend the first 24 hours in the incubator, so they can fluff up, so they need to be protected from the hot light bulb.

 I left the pointy edges at the end going on top and poked them into the styrofoam to secure it.

 Here is a look at where your eggs will be sitting. I ended up using this window a lot more than the top one.

 After your wire is molded, you can pull it back to set up your bulb.

The bulb will be going on the left side, furthest from where the eggs will be.

 Cut a hold in the side slightly smaller than the size of the base that the bulb will be screwed into.

 I found this piece at either Lowes or Home Depot for $2.27.

 Push the light socket in the hole.

 Screw in bulb.

Almost every DIY incubator I read about said to use a 60 watt bulb. I tried this and it was way too hot. Even with a ton of holes poked in it, it ran at a lethal egg temp of 106-108 degrees. Ideal temp is 95.5 degrees.
I ended up using a 40 watt which runs at about 97-99 most of the time and occasionally hitting 100 if its warmer out.

 Replace the wire over the bulb.

 I bought a small extension cord for about $5 at the same time I bought the bulb socket.

 Its important to run your incubator ahead of time so you know what your temp and humidity will be.

Humidity will increase with a larger surface area of water. Depth makes no difference. I put a long, shallow bowl of water under the wire where the eggs will sit. This gave me a humidity of about 35-40%. I simply put a sponge in that bowl and it went up to about 55%. My only problem was that the water would evaporate so fast that I needed to add water every hour to keep the humidity on the higher side.

Ive read that most people keep humidity at about 45% for the first 18 days but those same people did not have very good hatch rates. I'm keeping my humidity around 65% then I will increase to almost 80% for the last days.

To achieve a 65% humidity, I have a long shallow bowl of water with sponge, then I had to add a smaller bowl of water. This has worked quite well and I only need to add a small amount of water once every other day. After day 18, I will be adding another water bowl with sponge.



The first 24 hours after hatching, they do not need food or water to drink because they are still absorbing nutrients from the yolk sac.

 I'm sure you're wondering why the heck I have so much duct tape. Haha! This is because I read all over the place to use a 60 watt bulb. Because it was so hot, I poked a bunch of holes all over the place in an attempt to lower the temp. This was unsuccessful.

I then replaced the 60 watt with a 40 watt, but had to cover almost all of the holes I made in order to achieve the temperature I was going for.

I've been able to maintain a 65% humidity and 99 degrees with the exception of opening the incubator to turn the eggs. Opening the top brings the humidity down to about 55% and temp to 97, but only for a short time.

Here you can kind of see the dish of water (with sponge) that I have under the chicken wire. The small glass bowl is what I had to add to increase the humidity a little bit in the beginning. On day 18, I plan to remove the glass bowl and put a wider one with a sponge on the other side, under the light. I am hoping for a good hatch rate and I don't want to risk any of my new babies drowning. :)

It's kind of hard to see but I have another piece of chicken wire I shaped to keep the eggs on their side. I didn't feel comfortable just laying them down and risking them growing the wrong way so I developed this method.

Here is a better angle to show you what the egg carton is sitting on. On day 18, I plan to take that out put a hand towel or something in there.  The system I have in there works well for now but I want them to have something softer to land on when they come out of their shells.

I am looking forward to hatch day and I hope I can catch some video of it to share!