DIY Chicken Egg Incubator

Hatching a chicken from an egg requires a balance of heat and humidity.

Chicken eggs need a constant supply of heat and humidity to develop and hatch. In nature, this heat is provided by hens sitting on the eggs. When hens aren't available incubators can provide the right amount of heat and humidity for an egg to hatch. This simple do-it-yourself incubator is made out of cardboard and glass with heat provided by an incandescent light bulb and humidity provided by a water pan.

Things You'll Need

• Cardboard box - 16 inches wide by 20 inches long by 12.5 inches high
• Cardboard box - 14 inches wide by 18 inches long by 13 inches high
• Permanent Marker
• Yardstick
• Scissors
• Glue
• Newspapers
• Masking tape
• 9 inch by 14 inch Pan 1.5 inches deep
• 2 Incubator thermometers
• Side Cutters
• 18 inch by 22 inch 1/4-inch Mesh welded hardware cloth
• 6 inch by 6 inch by 1/8 inch plywood
• Cardboard tube
• Light bulb socket
• 40W Light bulb
• 16 inch by 20 inch Glass pane

Instructions

1. Place the larger box inside of the smaller box. Use the yardstick to mark the point on the smaller box that is a quarter of an inch below the top edge of the outer box (not including the flaps). Make several marks at this level around the inner box. Remove the inner box and draw a line around the box intersecting all of the marks. Cut the box along that line.

2. Cover any exposed sections at the bottoms of the boxes with spare pieces of cardboard. Reinforce the bottoms of the boxes with tape.

3. Glue the bottom of the inner box to the inside of the outer box. The inner box should be positioned in the center of the outer box: about 1 inch away from each wall.

4. Fold the outer box's top flaps in so that they are resting on the top edge of the inner box. Mark the point where line where the flaps overlap top edge of the inner box. Cut each of these flaps along this line. Cut the corners of the flaps at a forty-five degree angle. The outer flaps should now fold down onto the top edges of the inner box and create an enclosed empty space in between.

5. Fill the space between the two boxes with newspaper. Fold the outer box's flaps into place and tape them down.

6. Place the pan in the box. Place the thermometers in the box so that their bulbs are about 2 inches above the bottom of the box.

7. Cut a 2 inch square from the corners of the hardware cloth with the side-cutters. Fold the edges of the hardware cloth down to make a mesh table. Place the mesh table in the box over the pan. The thermometer bulbs should just poke through the mesh.

8. Mount the light bulb socket on the plywood. Screw the light bulb into the socket. Glue the cardboard tube into place around the light bulb. The tube should not touch the light bulb or any of the surrounding objects. Place the light assembly inside the box.

9. Fill the pan halfway up with warm water. Plug in the light bulb and place the glass pane over the top of the incubator so that it covers about 95 percent of the top of the incubator.

10. Monitor the incubator until it holds a temperature between 99 and 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Open the glass pane more to lower temperature and close it to increase temperature. Once it maintains temperature, you can add your chicken eggs.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to keep the water pan halfway full to maintain humidity in the incubator.

References

• Chickscope: Constructing the Incubator