How to Make a Poultry Incubator

Making your own poultry incubator is an easy way to hatch chicks. Most of the things you need to construct an incubator can be found around your house. Kids enjoy helping with the construction and then being rewarded with the hatching of the eggs. This is how most farmers hatched eggs before commercial Styrofoam incubators became widely available. Follow these steps to make your own incubator.

Things You'll Need

  • Cardboard box at least 2-by-2 feet
  • Flat piece of cardboard 2 inches larger than top of box
  • Aluminum foil 12 inches wide by 2 1/2-feet long
  • Loose light fixture
  • 60-watt light bulb
  • Thermometer
  • Small dish
  • Towel or old pillowcase
  • Utility knife
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Instructions

    • 1

      Gather all of your materials together. Any cardboard box will do. The light fixture can be taken out of an old lamp or purchased from any hardware store. If it has a metal globe around the bulb, remove it.

    • 2

      On the outside of the box on one end, measure 11 inches from the bottom of the box in the center of one side. Mark this spot. Center your light fixture over your mark and trace around it. Use a utility knife to cut around your trace mark.

    • 3

      Insert the light fixture into the hole from the outside. It should fit snugly. From the other side, screw in a 60-watt light bulb.

    • 4

      Line the box with a towel. Add the thermometer directly under the light bulb. Fill the small dish with water and set it in the end opposite the light bulb.

    • 5

      Take your flat piece of cardboard and cover half of it with foil. Place the flat piece on top of the incubator with the foil side directly over the light bulb.

    • 6

      Plug the unit in and turn on the light. Let the temperature stabilize at 99 degrees. To control the temperature, slide the top back and forth. The more open the top is, the lower the temperature will be.

    • 7

      Add the eggs after the temperature has stabilized--usually in 24 hours. The thermometer needs to be kept as close to the eggs as possible and the temperature maintained at 99 degrees during incubation. The eggs should be allowed to touch but should not be piled up on one another.