Incubator from old freezer

[Jp617]

So my deep freezer finally pooped the bed. Decided to make a incubator from it. I've made these before when I was hatching reptile eggs using a fridge. The freezer will insulate much better then an old fridge.

All of the temperature supplies can be found on reptilebasics.com website. I had an old ve100 thermostat with probe laying around and I purchased the 11 inch flex watt heat tape from the site. I recommend buying pre wired unless you have done the wiring before.

4ft of 11 inch flexwatt pre wired.
Ve 100 thermostat
Small usb fan from Amazon
2 temp/hydrometer

Links will be posted for the items purchased

Im running 2 farm innovations egg turners these turn ever 4 hours.

I drilled a few 3/8 inch air hole near the top left
Where the fan is running and acts as the exhaust.

As we all know heat rises. So this is moving around air effectively. You can use a lighter and the flame will show you if its pulling or pushing air. Top pushes air out. Bottom pulls air in and is heated before making its way to the top

A 1inch hole was drilled in the top to allow power cables to pass through and this is also where the probe goes in.

Silver hvac tape is used to connect the flexwatt along the backside of the freezer(very sticky stuff)


So far its holding temp spot on and only been running 45mins to get to 98 degrees.

The ve100 thermostat is like no other. Allows you to set your daytime temp at the click of a button. People use these for reptiles that cost 1000s of dollars so why wouldn't it work for some chicken eggs?

The thermostat will throw power to the heat tape to maintain Temps. You can set a degree or two difference so that as soon as the probe sees a 2 or 3 degree drop it automatically corrects back to your desired temp.

I have a few game fowl eggs in at the moment for the test run. As soon as I see the Temps steady at 99.5-9 I will be placing 2 dozen RIR eggs in.

Also im using 2 liter soda bottles with water to maintain humidity levels and keep temp in should I open the door.

Adjust accordingly for humidity. I will probably end up adding some water pans after day 18. The bottles will come out and allow room for chick's to be placed after they hatch to dry out a bit before going into the brooder.

THIS IS ALL TRIAL AND ERROR. However I do believe this will work after successfully hatching ball pythons and bearded dragons using the same technique.

Please follow me on this journey.

I will update as I can, working 3rd shift will make it a little slow for updates so be patient

Thanks
Jeff

 

[welderskelter]

I am also building a incubator. I had to look up a flex watt. Never heard of it. Was planning to use a coffee heater. Out of a bunn coffee pot. I think they are about 60 watt also. I used them when I was trying to heat a beehive to make a Minnesota winter. I have some digital thermostats. I have a small chest freezer I am going to use. Good luck with yours. Harold

 

[kyeschicks]

I like seeing posts like these, makes me want to make one myself lol do keep us updated on how it goes

 

[Jp617]

I am also building a incubator. I had to look up a flex watt. Never heard of it. Was planning to use a coffee heater. Out of a bunn coffee pot. I think they are about 60 watt also. I used them when I was trying to heat a beehive to make a Minnesota winter. I have some digital thermostats. I have a small chest freezer I am going to use. Good luck with yours. Harold

Flexwatt is very safe to use with a thermostat. If you are hatching smaller batches of eggs the chest freezer will work great. I would look into the flexwatt max operation temp is 130 degrees with a good thermostat it will keep your Temps almost perfect

 

[Jp617]

I like seeing posts like these, makes me want to make one myself lol do keep us updated on how it goes

Thanks I decided to build one instead of buying the 700-900.00 commercial incubator. I will keep you updated

 

[Jp617]

So far Temps are pretty good. By the end of the day if all is well ill add more eggs.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

So my deep freezer finally pooped the bed. Decided to make a incubator from it. I've made these before when I was hatching reptile eggs using a fridge. The freezer will insulate much better then an old fridge.

All of the temperature supplies can be found on reptilebasics.com website. I had an old ve100 thermostat with probe laying around and I purchased the 11 inch flex watt heat tape from the site. I recommend buying pre wired unless you have done the wiring before.

4ft of 11 inch flexwatt pre wired.
Ve 100 thermostat
Small usb fan from Amazon
2 temp/hydrometer

Links will be posted for the items purchased

Im running 2 farm innovations egg turners these turn ever 4 hours.

I drilled a few 3/8 inch air hole near the top left
Where the fan is running and acts as the exhaust.

As we all know heat rises. So this is moving around air effectively. You can use a lighter and the flame will show you if its pulling or pushing air. Top pushes air out. Bottom pulls air in and is heated before making its way to the top

A 1inch hole was drilled in the top to allow power cables to pass through and this is also where the probe goes in.

Silver hvac tape is used to connect the flexwatt along the backside of the freezer(very sticky stuff)


So far its holding temp spot on and only been running 45mins to get to 98 degrees.

The ve100 thermostat is like no other. Allows you to set your daytime temp at the click of a button. People use these for reptiles that cost 1000s of dollars so why wouldn't it work for some chicken eggs?

The thermostat will throw power to the heat tape to maintain Temps. You can set a degree or two difference so that as soon as the probe sees a 2 or 3 degree drop it automatically corrects back to your desired temp.

I have a few game fowl eggs in at the moment for the test run. As soon as I see the Temps steady at 99.5-9 I will be placing 2 dozen RIR eggs in.

Also im using 2 liter soda bottles with water to maintain humidity levels and keep temp in should I open the door.

Adjust accordingly for humidity. I will probably end up adding some water pans after day 18. The bottles will come out and allow room for chick's to be placed after they hatch to dry out a bit before going into the brooder.

THIS IS ALL TRIAL AND ERROR. However I do believe this will work after successfully hatching ball pythons and bearded dragons using the same technique.

Please follow me on this journey.

I will update as I can, working 3rd shift will make it a little slow for updates so be patient

Thanks
Jeff

Wow! If I had a freezer incubator I could hatch tons of chicks! It's really cool! Good jub on repressing the old freezer!

 

[Jp617]

Wow! If I had a freezer incubator I could hatch tons of chicks! It's really cool! Good jub on repressing the old freezer!

Thanks! i try to reuse things if i can without throwing it away to taking it to my local dumpsite.

 

[Mellowmalt]

How is your humidity holding up. On my fridge I have had to close most air holes and only have tiny gaps to keep humidity up

 

[Jp617]

How is your humidity holding up. On my fridge I have had to close most air holes and only have tiny gaps to keep humidity up

20% an steady. im going to add some water pans at day 18. and bring it up to 85% if this doesnt work out then ill know to increase humidity before hand to 35-45% until day 18. im going with the dry method first go. so 20-30% is fine. the water bottles are helping tremendously with keeping in temps and steady humidity