Things You'll Need
- Large Styrofoam cooler
- Light socket kit with dimmer
- Small rotary fan
- Pencil
- Utility knife
- Wood or carpenter's glue
- 8- by 11-inch picture frame (used is fine)
- Screwdriver
- Small bowl
- Water
- Hydrometer
- 25-watt lightbulb
- Probe thermometer
- Water-based marker
- Calendar
- Brooder liner cloth
- High-diffusion spray bottle
Instructions
Make an Incubator
Purchase a very large Styrofoam cooler, a light socket with a cord and a dimmer switch (this combination can be found already wired at most hardware stores), and a small rotating fan with well-covered blades.
Place the light socket in the center of the top of the cooler and trace around it using a pencil. Cut along the pencil lines with a utility knife and remove this piece of Styrofoam. Rub a little wood or carpenter's glue around the edges of the socket, then push it into the opening in the Styrofoam, with the bulb opening facing inward. Wipe away any excess glue.
Use the utility knife to cut a rectangle out of the side of the cooler, slightly smaller than a standard 8- by 11-inch picture frame. Remove the glass from one of these frames and apply wood or carpenter's glue around the edges. Place the glass over the window that you cut out and hold it in place until it sets.
Use a screwdriver to poke several holes on each side of the cooler.
Turn the fan on low and place it inside the cooler, along with a small bowl of water. Set the hydrometer in a corner, or glue it securely to one of the interior sides of the cooler.
Screw a 25-watt bulb into the socket on the lid and place the lid onto the cooler. Plug in the light and allow the incubator to remain undisturbed for about an hour.
Hatching the Egg
Use a probe thermometer, with the probe pushed all the way through the Styrofoam but not sticking far into the incubator, to check the temperature of your incubator. When the temperature of your incubator holds steady at around 102 degrees and the hydrometer at 65 percent, place your fertilized egg into your incubator.
Use a water-based marker to draw an "X" on the side of your egg that is facing up. Keep a calendar nearby and draw an "X" in the date box for the day that you begin incubating your egg. The next day, gently turn the egg over in the incubator and draw an "O" on the blank side, now facing up, with your marker. In the box for this day, draw an "O". Alternate Xs and Os for a 2-week period on the calendar. This will keep you from forgetting whether or not you have turned your egg that day. Continue to turn the egg carefully once a day for 2 weeks.
On the last day of turning, carefully lay the egg to one side of the cooler. Cut a piece of brooder liner that will fit in the bottom of the cooler. Lay half of it down on the empty side of the cooler, and hold the other half in one hand. Use the other hand to gently transfer the egg to the brooder liner that is in place. Then, lay the other half of the brooder liner in the bottom of the cooler. Carefully arrange the egg in the approximate center of the liner.
Beginning the day after you are done turning your eggs, open the incubator every 2-3 hours and mist your egg with lukewarm water using a high-diffusion spray bottle. Your hydrometer should read between 70 and 80 percent from now until the egg hatches. Be careful that, once the egg begins to hatch, you do not get water into any of the small holes that your chick has made.
Be sure to check the temperature several times daily and adjust the dimmer switch to warm or cool the incubator as needed. Only open the incubator to mist your egg.
Carefully supervise your chick as it hatches so that you can help quickly if it seems to be struggling.