How to Build Plans for an Egg Incubator

If a female bird lays eggs, she must sit on those eggs to keep them warm and humid for hatching. But in cases where she can't, for natural causes like death or disease, it's necessary for people to step in and take care of the eggs. To successfully hatch abandoned eggs, you'll need an egg incubator to maintain a hatching environment. Instead of buying an incubator, try your hand at building your own with a couple household items.

Things You'll Need

• 30-quart Styrofoam ice chest with cover
• Screwdriver
• Pocket knife
• Lamp building kit
• Light bulb (120 volt, 25 watt)
• Thermostat switch
• Extension cord
• Hook up wire
• Newspaper
• Shavings/Straw

Instructions

1. Take the lid off the Styrofoam chest and save it for incubation. Use the knife to drill holes in the chest. Put a hole in the side of the ice chest 3 inches below the top for the lamp. Drill four additional holes 3 inches from the bottom of the ice chest for air ventilation, with two holes on each side of the chest.

2. Discard what you don't need from the lamp building kit. You will need only the bulb, extension tube and wiring from the lamp. Insert the extension tube through the hole you made at the top of the ice chest, and screw the light bulb in inside the incubator. This will provide warmth and light in your homemade egg incubator.

3. Put the thermostat at the bottom of your incubator, near the side, to monitor the heat within the ice chest and control the lamp.

4. Run one of the the lamp's wires to the electric plug, and the other wire to the thermostat. Run the thermostat's wire to the electric plug, following the instructions on your lamp building kit. Set the thermostat to 90 to 100 degrees for ideal incubation. If you've wired the system correctly, the thermostat will switch the lamp on and off automatically to maintain the temperature.

5. Line the bottom of the incubator with a removable layer of newspaper. You'll need to remove this and replace it consistently to clean the incubator. Put in a layer of shavings or straw to support the eggs you incubate. Place the lid on the incubator after the eggs are inside.

Tips & Warnings

• Eggs can take anywhere from 15 to 35 days to hatch, depending on the breed of the bird.

• When you're incubating eggs, spray the eggs with warm water and turn them three times a day to maintain humidity and circulation.

• Eggs that don't receive enough warmth will fail to hatch.

References

• University of Minnesota Extension: Hatching and Brooding a Small Number of Chicks
• "Build Mathilda, an Electric Hen;" Dennis Hawkins