How to Build Your Own Incubator for Chickens

Incubating chicken eggs can be a way to ensure the propagation of a certain species, or a fun and informative project. Only fertilized chicken eggs can be hatched. Chicken eggs that you purchase from a store are unlikely to be fertilized. Even if they were, the refrigeration makes fetal development impossible. Fertilized chicken eggs harvested from a nest in a coop, however, are easy to hatch with an incubator. You can easily make your own with a small aquarium and a few simple tools.

Things You'll Need

  • 20-gallon aquarium
  • Sheet of clear, heavyweight plastic
  • Scissors
  • Duct tape
  • Small lamp with a capacity to burn a 75-watt bulb
  • 8-inch by 8-inch bread pan
  • 8-inch by 4-inch by 1.5-inch sponge
  • Thermometer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Lay the aquarium on its side so that the opening faces you.

    • 2

      Cut the plastic into a rectangle that is two inches wider and longer than the aquarium's opening on each side.

    • 3

      Tape the plastic so that it hangs over and covers the opening of the aquarium as a flap.

    • 4

      Place the lamp in the aquarium. Allow the cord to come out of the opening and under the flap.

    • 5

      Place the thermometer in the incubator so that you can read it through the plastic flap without opening it.

    • 6

      Place a bulb in the lamp and switch it on. Start with the lowest wattage bulb you can find. Allow the incubator to heat up for one hour to a temperature between 99 and 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Read the thermometer's temperature. If it has not reached the desired range, switch to a higher wattage bulb. Wait another hour and read the thermometer's temperature again. Repeat the process until the thermometer reads the appropriate temperature.

    • 7

      Fill an 8-inch by 8-inch bread pan with water. Insert an 8-inch by 4-inch by 1.5-inch sponge. This will provide the approximate humidity that you need to successfully incubate your eggs.