best incubator??

[cyndistine]

What is the best incubator for a hobbyist? I know TSC has chick incubators for a decent amount.. are they good? what would anyone recommend?

Thanks Cyndi!!

 

[ApReptiles]

Im looking at getting a nature spirit incubator in the future i hear only great things about them.

 

[Shadera]

Best incubators are homebuilt, IMHO. They're also usually cheaper and easy enough to put together using just about anything. Wine coolers, beer coolers, old refrigerators, catering hot boxes, freezers, and the list goes on. All you then need is some heat tape, and thermostat, and a small fan to move your air around.

Having hatched quite a few poultry this year, I'd stay about as far away from the styro incubators as I could get. IME, they're unreliable and way overpriced. I bought two Hovabator Genesis 1588's with auto turners and ended up giving them both away and incubating chickens in my coolerbator while I was waiting on the snakes to get started laying.

 

[mgoblue347]

I was in the same boat as you and had to find the best incubator I could buy a couple months ago. I did my research and looked at about every incubator out there and decided to build my own. Bought a wine cooler with a see through door for $40 on Craigslist, holds about 8-10 clutches at a time. It works beautifully, looks great and I couldn't be happier.

I thought it would be difficult to build but it really is far from it. Strip the insides out, run your cords through the preexisting holes on the bottom, tape the heat tape to the back, pop a little fan in there and you've got a perfect $50/60 incubator. Good luck!

 

[cyndistine]

hummmmm

I would love to build my own.... But I'm not mechanically inclined... Are there any really good instructions, that are really clear?

Glad I asked about the tsc ones now I know to stay clear

 

[mgoblue347]

Here are your instruction.

1. Buy any sort of wine cooler, mini fridge you can find on Craigslist. I searched around and found a nice one with a clear door so I could look in without opening the door every time and in the process letting heat out.
2. Next, strip the inside out, just take everything out of it.
Generally these mini fridges, wine coolers w/e, have a hole leading into the fridge from the bottom where the inside cooling panel connects to the coolant underneath on the bottom. I ran all my cords through this existing hole to save from drilling. (thermostat probe, digital thermometer, fan cord, heat tape etc)
3. You can seal that hole with some cheap silicon if you'd like from walmart (after cords are through), I didn't and have no problems with the heat. It is such a small hole anyways and my temps stay at a steady 89.
4. Run 11" heat tape down the back of the fridge, tape it in place, I also ran it along the bottom, just depends on the size of your fridge.
5. Fans are personal preference, you don't need one, I have one. Same thing, just mount it somewhere if you want one, tape works.
6. You're done!

Anybody feel free to correct me if I missed anything. That is how I did mine.

Good luck!

 

[cyndistine]

getting pretty excited

so I just got on craigslist and was looking up wine coolers in my area.. there are a bunch around 50 and under... pretty stoked. lol.. anyways.. what is a good size wise? they come in like 8 and 10 bottle size for 50 and under.. how many clutches will the 8 hold? I wont need anything crazy big as this is just my first time trying.. but if it goes well.. .ya never know.. haha...

thanks for ya time guys!!

 

[mgoblue347]

An 8 bottle cooler? That won't hold but 1 clutch, MAYBE 2. The one I got for $40 held about 60 bottles of wine. I got lucky on the price. Keep looking you will find a deal.

 

[cyndistine]

ok

awesome thank you for the heads up on that... the 8 didn't look too big.. but I wasn't sure if it was the picture or not

 

[Shadera]

I would love to build my own.... But I'm not mechanically inclined... Are there any really good instructions, that are really clear?

Glad I asked about the tsc ones now I know to stay clear

If you post here on the forums as you go with questions, people will be happy to help. I haven't seen any great DIY writeups (not saying they're not out there), but it really is very simple.

1. Find find the object you wish to turn into incubator. Something that already has some insulation in it is the easiest way to go.

2. Attach heat source inside, usually up the walls and/or on the floor.

3. Add fan for air circulation.

4. Attach heat source to thermostat.

It really is that simple. You don't need to know how to wire or anything like that if you don't want to.

Here's a couple shots of the ones I've been putting together. I use this cooler from walmart:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Xtreme-120-Quart-Cooler/14574678

And I put this ultratherm heat mat in the bottom of it:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/ultratherm-undertank-heater-uth-11-x35

Along with this fan:
http://www.coolerguys.com/840556026389.html

Since I hate to have to wire stuff, I notched the top rim of the cooler for the cords to run through. I plugged the heat mat into the thermostat, and the thermostat into the wall. I also plugged the fan directly into the wall. I taped the thermostat probe and another thermometer probe to the inside of the lid so that they hang roughly in the center when the lid is closed. I used a couple baking cooling racks in the bottom to keep the egg boxes off direct heat and stuck some small water bottles underneath them as heat sinks.

Each of these will hold 4 15 quart egg boxes. Or approximately a hundred chicken eggs.

Just the way I did mine. Hopefully a lot of others will chime in with what they've done so you can get some more ideas.

 

[jack2682]

I agree with these two.. the best is the one you made yourself.

If you don't find the right wine fridge, look for glass-door fridges on craigslist. I got one that was for tropicana juice and must have started out at a deli or something. Clear glass door and the perfect size for 8-10 clutches.

I found Clay Davenports instructions very helpful, link below. As I am not very mechanically inclined, I found having lots of detail helpful. There are also quite a few videos on youtube on this topic.

have fun and good luck!

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/incubator.shtml

 

[mgoblue347]

Your incubator looks great Shadera!

Here are some pictures of mine.

 

[jack2682]

I love how clean those wine fridge incubators look! Mine is pretty ugly with a giant Tropicana on the side hahah..... But it's functional so I don't care!

 

[mgoblue347]

They really do look great, not an eyesore at all. I couldn't be happier!

 

[Rivergecko]

I use an old model GQF incubator. It holds up too 9 clutches and works great, expecting my first hatchlings in the next few days!!!

 

[Randy F]

I use to use a cooler as well but I use a substrateless method which heats water to create the humidity. It works very well and you do not have any of the issues that come with substrate on rare occasions. I am using a full size stand up freezer now. We are working on building incubators which will be all cnc machine plastics that can be ordered to hold as many clutches as you want.