DIY Chicken Incubator
Got a cabinet and want to hatch your poultry eggs into chicks? You can convert your cabinet into a homemade chicken incubator in a few easy steps. The first thing that you need to do is to take your cabinet, and cover the interiors with a foil, making sure to line every inch of the inside of the cabinet, and securing it with tape or staple. What do you need foil for? Foil is a conductor. As such, it can help keep the temperature constant inside the incubator.
Next, take a piece of wood two-by-four in dimension, cut to a length equal to the width of the cabinet. Position the wood at the back side of the cabinet. This will serve as the roost to keep the eggs from touching the foil base of the cabinet as the foil could get too hot to the touch. Line the wood with chicken wire to help keep the eggs from rolling off.
The next step is to install the lights. The lights will of course serve as the heat source for your chicken incubator. Choose 15-watt bulbs for this purpose. Install four of these to optimize the temperature to 98 to 102 degrees F. Place the bulbs on the top and the back wall of the cabinet.
To accurately monitor the temperature, you will also need to install a thermometer inside the incubator, at a spot where it will not be directly exposed to the light. The first 24 hours is crucial, so make sure to constantly check the temperature to see that it remains consistent.
Finally, you need to set up your ventilation system. To do this, you will need to drill half-inch holes—about four to six of them—around the cabinet. Then take a pie tin, fill this with water, and set it on the floor of the cabinet. This will keep the humidity levels inside your chicken incubator constant as well.
