who is incubating chooks??

[JILLY JACKSON]

NSB.thanks ,will try to get details about that ,only trouble is my girls arnt broody yet! Still,thanks for the info,it couldbe quite useful

[NSB]

were probably going to go again for the March auction whos going?

[lynda66]

id incubate some for you NSB unfortunately i'm not in surrey

[HayleyB]

Thanks for the offer Steve, there's a Beds rescue I'll be getting mine from, not sure when yet

[matthew2riches]

I set my first lot on 18th Jan 2008 for a nice surprise 2nd week into the new year.

My second batch were set 14th Jan 2009 - I have 10 out of 12 hatch.

My 3rd batch (birds for meat) failed because the eggs were scrambled in the post :-(

I'll hopefully set my 4th batch next week :-) A whole 50 if I can...

[MaureenHall]

50??????? wow!

[Flummery]

By heck Matthew - you don't do things by halves (or you'd have 25!)
People always say, 'you'll want more' - in your case they were certainly right!
(Been watching your chickens' progress in Another Place as they say in parliamentary circles!)

[davefromthechipie]

I got mine in today ,Black Red / Black Araucanas & French Copper Black Marans Not that confident in this home made incubator as 3 different thermometer are giving 3 different readings Iv chosen to go with the normal mercury thermometer for my readings.
2 pounds china made elec one gives 41c .
not so cheap elec Innovation outside moniter one gives 38c
and the standed merc one showing 37c.



please wish me luck

[lynda66]

I got mine in today ,Black Red / Black Araucanas & French Copper Black Marans Not that confident in this home made incubator as 3 different thermometer are giving 3 different readings Iv chosen to go with the normal mercury thermometer for my readings.
2 pounds china made elec one gives 41c .
not so cheap elec Innovation outside moniter one gives 38c
and the standed merc one showing 37c.



please wish me luck

make sure the temperature at the middle of egg level on the mercury thermometer is at 37.5 .... temp varied on my maino one between the thermometer in it's correct position according to the manufacturers, and the actual temp at egg level, resulting in 2 lots of dead eggs, when i realised and got the temp right where the eggs were they hatched no problem.

[davefromthechipie]

make sure the temperature at the middle of egg level on the mercury thermometer is at 37.5 .... temp varied on my maino one between the thermometer in it's correct position according to the manufacturers, and the actual temp at egg level, resulting in 2 lots of dead eggs, when i realised and got the temp right where the eggs were they hatched no problem.

Thanks lynda
I have tryed to get the thermos as close to the middle of the eggs as i can . the fan i have in there pritty much keeps the temp 37 to 38 in all corners & bottom to top. going by my 3 week running tests before i got the eggs , All test done great!! but just within 3 hours of putting them in the power supply stops working ..... just finished running around finding a replacment and ended up taking apart an old Pc and using that psu think il change over from 12v lighting to 240v tomorrow just to get rid of the risk of not just the bulb blowing .

[jonny_s_p]

Time for an update......

So far seven have hatched, all doing fine. Two more have pipped. Hopefully the other three wont be far behind.

They are very comfortable in the living room at the moment.

NSB - I'm in Portsmouth if that's not too far. To be honest you could probably buy one like mine off ebay (£30) for the price of the fuel - but the offer is there.

Cheers

Jonny

PS photos to follow tomorrow, I promise

[chicken slave]

were probably going to go again for the March auction whos going?

I'm most probably going again, If you want some popped in my incubator you're more than welcome.

[jonny_s_p]

NSB - How practical are you?

I bought mine off e bay because I was short on time but my incubator is basically a polystyrene box, the sort frozen fish is delivered in. You should be able to blag one of those for nothing.

The thermostat is from a company in Belgium called vellerman (sp?). Maplins stock them for about £5. The closest store to you is in Sutton.

Thermostat Kit > Maplin

The temperature on this module is not quite right but you can often change this by substituting a different resistor. I can get the part number of mine for you if you like.

The thermostat powers a small DC fan and a 12W light bulb.

The whole thing needs a 12V power supply you may have one from an old laptop, computer or cordless drill.

If you are fairly practical you could make one in an afternoon.

Alternatively have you considered asking on Freecycle? United Kingdom (UK) Freecycle Groups' Homepage

I hope this helps.

Jonny