As a newbie to the chicken world, I made the classic mistake - I set eggs in my new incubator, and then I kept adding to them, giving me a staggered hatch for my first incubation. One day after I set 21 eggs in my Nurture Right 360, I threw in a tan one because the hen was an excellent layer, and then I finally positively identified which eggs came from my favorite hen, so I had to add some of her "known for sure" eggs on Day 3 and Day 8 into incubation. I knew I'd have to keep hand turning eggs 22-24 while the others were in lockdown, but it didn't occur to me that the humidity would not be correct for them during that time. About a week or two into incubation, the problem with humidity occurred to me, and after searching this site, I learned I could either put those last three eggs in with the others during lockdown, and juggle opening the incubator to turn those eggs while under high humidity and while the others were hatching, or I could use a second incubator to try and give them the correct conditions prior to lockdown.
I really wanted to give those last 3 eggs the best chance possible without messing up the main hatch, but another incubator was not in the budget. So I got to thinking about it and came up with a still air incubator using hermit crab keeping (reptile) supplies I had on-hand at the house. I checked on this site, and didn't see where anyone had made something similar, so I thought I would share what I did in case it helps some other newbie who gets excited and keeps adding eggs. [From what I've read, most of you plan ahead wonderfully and are very skilled, and therefore have not needed to jury-rig anything for your incubations!] Or maybe just for a laugh, because this was kind of crazy, but it worked.
First I rescued my 22 Quart Mirro polished aluminum heavy duty pressure canner out of the garage. I set it out there after I had a jar explode during cooling, and then we got a glass-topped stove, and I haven't used it since, but I thought I might one day, so it's still around. I LOVED this canner!!! It worked great for years. I canned lots of chicken.
Then I collected the following:
I wrapped the Reptile Basics Heater around the outside of the canner after removing the handles. (Not supposed to bend these heaters, but the radius was large enough it worked out okay.) I removed the canner handles so I could get the heater up as far as possible towards the top of the canner. The width of the heater was wider than the height of the canner, so I had to angle it as I wrapped it, and mount the canner up on top of the half-height stew pot (turned upside down) so that the heater would not run into the table as it protruded below the side of the canner. The length of the heater was such that it wrapped just over half the canner surface.
I secured the heater to the side of the canner with clear tape at the edges of the heater (wanted to use 3M clear packaging tape as that comes back off easier, but gift wrap tape was what I had available) absolutely flush to the canner surface except for the electrical connection in the middle. Then I wrapped the outside of the canner outside of the heater with three thicknesses of Reflectix. Reflectix is basically Mylar over bubble wrap - it insulates very well for what it is - it's not as good of an insulator as styrofoam, but it's flexible which is what I needed for this project. I insulated the lid with two thicknesses of Reflectix also, and secured that with duct tape. I placed a 1/2" thick piece of styrofoam at the bottom of the canner, followed by two layers of Reflectix, and then it was put on top of the half-height stew pot - this reduced heat transfer out of the canner and insulated the bottom.
I filled all the water bottles with 120F water out of my sink before loading them into the canner. 120F water was used in the cups/container as well. This helps reduce the time needed for the inside humidity and temperature to stabilize. The water bottles and glass rocks were used as a heat sink - they helped stabilize the temperature and prevent drastic changes, since they are slower to transfer heat than the aluminum canner walls. If I had to do it again, I'd place the glass rocks below the metal shelf so they weren't right on the sides of the berry basket.
I left the stopcock open, as well as the locking port, and fed my Zilla temperature control temperature gage through the locking port and into the berry basket, and taped it to the lid so it would dangle 1" above the bottom of the basket (away from the side) and measure air temperature. I ended up covering a good portion of the top with Press N Seal to minimize air movement in order to help stabilize the humidity and temperature when I would reach in to turn the eggs - this reduced temp and humidity drops during turning.
I tried using the pressure canner rubber lid gasket, but took it out because it kept the humidity too high. Leaving the lid just resting on the temperature gage lead gave a humidity of around 67-71. Propping the locking area hole open with the small end of the plastic chop stick adjusted the opening so that humidity ran right around 47% RH with dips down to 37-41% RH when I would turn the eggs. Humidity rebounded within 15 minutes, and temperature rebounded within about ten minutes. Temperature was set to 101.4F, and the controller kept it between 100.4-101.5F.
The two articles I found most helpful when setting the humidity and temperature and making sure my gages were accurate are here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubation-humidity.73386/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-beginners-guide-to-incubation.73350/
It took at least 2 days for the system to reach equilibrium once it was heated up, but after that, it held humidity and temperature very well. I could have hatched in it if I'd wanted to (I'd figured out how to keep humidity at 67-74% RH), but I wanted to hatch at a steady 61-63% where I could watch them, and had planned to use my Nurture Right 360 for that, so once the eggs reached lockdown on Day 18, I transferred them over.
Two of the three eggs that spent time in this incubator hatched on time with no issues. The one that didn't only spent one day in this incubator, and was right up against the wall that had the glass rocks on the other side. I wonder if it was over-heated because of the glass rocks being there? I did an eggtopsy, but am not yet able to tell when exactly it died from what I saw. The other two eggs also touched the sides of the basket, but the aluminum canner wall was on the other side, and they were on the side of the basket opposite to where the heater was mounted. The eggs that hatched spent 4 days and 7 days, respectively, in this still air pressure canner incubator prior to lockdown. At lockdown they were transferred back to the Nurture Right 360.
So after all this effort, I got two delightful babies that I KNOW are from my favorite hen, and now I know how to make a backup still air incubator in case I ever need it again. I don't know that I'd want to do this again - it was a fair bit of work and a lot of nail-biting, but I'm glad I had the experience and super thrilled that it worked out!
Now I just have to keep my youngest babies from being picked on by their older hatch-mates...
Oh, and in case you were wondering, this setup is completely able to be broken down - it's not permanent. I could go back to canning in my pressure canner today (if I had the right stove-top).
[NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT overload the Nurture Right 360 incubator or do another staggered hatch! The auto-turner is your FRIEND, it is there to make your life easier, and you should USE IT!!! Life works better when all the baby chicks are the same size/age, and hand-turning is a pain.]
The 22 Quart Pressure Canner with Reflectix. You can see the heater poking out the bottom on the left, the Zilla temperature controller, the temperature probe lead coming out the locking port in the lid, and the plastic chopstick used for locking port (air vent) height control.
Detail of the heater bottom edge, Zilla temperature controller, and half-stew pot support.
A smaller Reptile Basics heater I had on hand so you can see what these look like - the one wrapped around the pressure canner is wider and longer but I didn't want to take off the Reflectix for pictures.
What it looks like when I reach in to turn the eggs. I would wear a headlamp so I could see the AcuRite gage with as little lid movement as possible.
Press N Seal for temperature and humidity regulation
Inside the pressure canner (above the shelf)
Pressure canner shelf with glass rocks
Below the shelf
Egg 24 - The Last Baby!!!
x2 because it's cute!!!
I really wanted to give those last 3 eggs the best chance possible without messing up the main hatch, but another incubator was not in the budget. So I got to thinking about it and came up with a still air incubator using hermit crab keeping (reptile) supplies I had on-hand at the house. I checked on this site, and didn't see where anyone had made something similar, so I thought I would share what I did in case it helps some other newbie who gets excited and keeps adding eggs. [From what I've read, most of you plan ahead wonderfully and are very skilled, and therefore have not needed to jury-rig anything for your incubations!] Or maybe just for a laugh, because this was kind of crazy, but it worked.
First I rescued my 22 Quart Mirro polished aluminum heavy duty pressure canner out of the garage. I set it out there after I had a jar explode during cooling, and then we got a glass-topped stove, and I haven't used it since, but I thought I might one day, so it's still around. I LOVED this canner!!! It worked great for years. I canned lots of chicken.
Then I collected the following:
- Reptile Basics heating pad
- Zilla temperature controller
- AcuRite temperature and humidity gage
- Press N Seal
- Reflectix I had sitting around
- A plastic chopstick with two different size ends
- Clear plastic tape and duct tape
- Piece of styrofoam (1/2" thick) large enough to stick under the bottom of the canner
- Half-height stew pot
- 3 plastic soda or water bottles and 1 plastic lemonade bottle
- x-tra large hot/cold pack (can do ice or heat)
- 4 cups of large glass stones in two ziplock sandwich bags
- 2 plastic kids cups, 1 medicine cup, and one small plastic container filled halfway up with water
- 2 small pieces of clean sponge (not sure these did much good, but I added them)
- 1 large plastic berry collection basket
- Shelf liner to fit in the bottom of the basket
- Aluminum divider (for canning pints) that came with the pressure canner to use as a shelf on top of the water bottles and hot/cold pack
- the berry basket with shelf liner and AcuRite gage and small plastic container half-full of water
- and surrounding that I put two bags of glass rocks (1.5-2 cups each),
- two full water bottles,
- one kids cup half full of water, and the medicine cup with water.
- I added some sponge pieces to the water, but looking back I don't think those were necessary
I wrapped the Reptile Basics Heater around the outside of the canner after removing the handles. (Not supposed to bend these heaters, but the radius was large enough it worked out okay.) I removed the canner handles so I could get the heater up as far as possible towards the top of the canner. The width of the heater was wider than the height of the canner, so I had to angle it as I wrapped it, and mount the canner up on top of the half-height stew pot (turned upside down) so that the heater would not run into the table as it protruded below the side of the canner. The length of the heater was such that it wrapped just over half the canner surface.
I secured the heater to the side of the canner with clear tape at the edges of the heater (wanted to use 3M clear packaging tape as that comes back off easier, but gift wrap tape was what I had available) absolutely flush to the canner surface except for the electrical connection in the middle. Then I wrapped the outside of the canner outside of the heater with three thicknesses of Reflectix. Reflectix is basically Mylar over bubble wrap - it insulates very well for what it is - it's not as good of an insulator as styrofoam, but it's flexible which is what I needed for this project. I insulated the lid with two thicknesses of Reflectix also, and secured that with duct tape. I placed a 1/2" thick piece of styrofoam at the bottom of the canner, followed by two layers of Reflectix, and then it was put on top of the half-height stew pot - this reduced heat transfer out of the canner and insulated the bottom.
I filled all the water bottles with 120F water out of my sink before loading them into the canner. 120F water was used in the cups/container as well. This helps reduce the time needed for the inside humidity and temperature to stabilize. The water bottles and glass rocks were used as a heat sink - they helped stabilize the temperature and prevent drastic changes, since they are slower to transfer heat than the aluminum canner walls. If I had to do it again, I'd place the glass rocks below the metal shelf so they weren't right on the sides of the berry basket.
I left the stopcock open, as well as the locking port, and fed my Zilla temperature control temperature gage through the locking port and into the berry basket, and taped it to the lid so it would dangle 1" above the bottom of the basket (away from the side) and measure air temperature. I ended up covering a good portion of the top with Press N Seal to minimize air movement in order to help stabilize the humidity and temperature when I would reach in to turn the eggs - this reduced temp and humidity drops during turning.
I tried using the pressure canner rubber lid gasket, but took it out because it kept the humidity too high. Leaving the lid just resting on the temperature gage lead gave a humidity of around 67-71. Propping the locking area hole open with the small end of the plastic chop stick adjusted the opening so that humidity ran right around 47% RH with dips down to 37-41% RH when I would turn the eggs. Humidity rebounded within 15 minutes, and temperature rebounded within about ten minutes. Temperature was set to 101.4F, and the controller kept it between 100.4-101.5F.
The two articles I found most helpful when setting the humidity and temperature and making sure my gages were accurate are here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubation-humidity.73386/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-beginners-guide-to-incubation.73350/
It took at least 2 days for the system to reach equilibrium once it was heated up, but after that, it held humidity and temperature very well. I could have hatched in it if I'd wanted to (I'd figured out how to keep humidity at 67-74% RH), but I wanted to hatch at a steady 61-63% where I could watch them, and had planned to use my Nurture Right 360 for that, so once the eggs reached lockdown on Day 18, I transferred them over.
Two of the three eggs that spent time in this incubator hatched on time with no issues. The one that didn't only spent one day in this incubator, and was right up against the wall that had the glass rocks on the other side. I wonder if it was over-heated because of the glass rocks being there? I did an eggtopsy, but am not yet able to tell when exactly it died from what I saw. The other two eggs also touched the sides of the basket, but the aluminum canner wall was on the other side, and they were on the side of the basket opposite to where the heater was mounted. The eggs that hatched spent 4 days and 7 days, respectively, in this still air pressure canner incubator prior to lockdown. At lockdown they were transferred back to the Nurture Right 360.
So after all this effort, I got two delightful babies that I KNOW are from my favorite hen, and now I know how to make a backup still air incubator in case I ever need it again. I don't know that I'd want to do this again - it was a fair bit of work and a lot of nail-biting, but I'm glad I had the experience and super thrilled that it worked out!
Now I just have to keep my youngest babies from being picked on by their older hatch-mates...
Oh, and in case you were wondering, this setup is completely able to be broken down - it's not permanent. I could go back to canning in my pressure canner today (if I had the right stove-top).
[NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT overload the Nurture Right 360 incubator or do another staggered hatch! The auto-turner is your FRIEND, it is there to make your life easier, and you should USE IT!!! Life works better when all the baby chicks are the same size/age, and hand-turning is a pain.
]The 22 Quart Pressure Canner with Reflectix. You can see the heater poking out the bottom on the left, the Zilla temperature controller, the temperature probe lead coming out the locking port in the lid, and the plastic chopstick used for locking port (air vent) height control.
Detail of the heater bottom edge, Zilla temperature controller, and half-stew pot support.
A smaller Reptile Basics heater I had on hand so you can see what these look like - the one wrapped around the pressure canner is wider and longer but I didn't want to take off the Reflectix for pictures.
What it looks like when I reach in to turn the eggs. I would wear a headlamp so I could see the AcuRite gage with as little lid movement as possible.
Press N Seal for temperature and humidity regulation
Inside the pressure canner (above the shelf)
Pressure canner shelf with glass rocks
Below the shelf
Egg 24 - The Last Baby!!!
x2 because it's cute!!!
