Hello All!!
This spring I have attempted to start a mini hatchery. It has been largely successful, but it took hours of trial, and error to start it.
Last year, I got a Hova Bator 1602n for my birthday. It seemed to work great, and I hatched about 40 chicks in total out of it.
In September of last year, that incubator killed all of my chicks. It was a big bummer, so I began looking for different incubators. I won a $50 gift card at my local orthodontist. I went looking on Amazon, and I found a forced air Little Giant Incubator for $50. I bought it, and it worked great. In total I hatched another 20 chicks out of it. But then I ordered $75 of eggs, and every one of them made it to day 19, but only 1 hatched. It was a big bummer.
So then I began again looking for another incubator, and I found the Incukit for cabinet incubators by Incubator Warehouse. I bought it, and constructed a 4 foot tall, and 2 foot by 2 foot wide cabinet. I then bought some Poly Styrene Insulation, it was only about $10 for the insulation. I mounted the Incukit into the incubator, I built a door for the cabinet with a window, and I plugged it in.
It worked great. I then went down to my local Wilco, and bought a few Little Giant Auto Egg Turners. That was the most expensive thing in the whole build it cost about $140.I built a rack to set the turners on. I then bought a few small Tupperware containers, and I used that as my humidifier.
I set 2 eggs in the incubator, as its trail run. They both are developing, and they will hatch in a few days. My plan is to grow out my Silkie's, and hatch their eggs, and sell the chicks. I have three egg turners so I will add eggs once a week, and I will hatch eggs once a week. Each of the 3 egg turners holds about 40 eggs, so if I can hatch 40 chicks a week for a month, or however long demand is in, I will be set.
In total I spent about $40 on the wood, $140 on the egg turners, $130 on the Incukit, $5 on the Tupperware containers, $10 on the insulation, and the rack was free.
This spring I have attempted to start a mini hatchery. It has been largely successful, but it took hours of trial, and error to start it.
Last year, I got a Hova Bator 1602n for my birthday. It seemed to work great, and I hatched about 40 chicks in total out of it.
In September of last year, that incubator killed all of my chicks. It was a big bummer, so I began looking for different incubators. I won a $50 gift card at my local orthodontist. I went looking on Amazon, and I found a forced air Little Giant Incubator for $50. I bought it, and it worked great. In total I hatched another 20 chicks out of it. But then I ordered $75 of eggs, and every one of them made it to day 19, but only 1 hatched. It was a big bummer.
So then I began again looking for another incubator, and I found the Incukit for cabinet incubators by Incubator Warehouse. I bought it, and constructed a 4 foot tall, and 2 foot by 2 foot wide cabinet. I then bought some Poly Styrene Insulation, it was only about $10 for the insulation. I mounted the Incukit into the incubator, I built a door for the cabinet with a window, and I plugged it in.
It worked great. I then went down to my local Wilco, and bought a few Little Giant Auto Egg Turners. That was the most expensive thing in the whole build it cost about $140.I built a rack to set the turners on. I then bought a few small Tupperware containers, and I used that as my humidifier.
I set 2 eggs in the incubator, as its trail run. They both are developing, and they will hatch in a few days. My plan is to grow out my Silkie's, and hatch their eggs, and sell the chicks. I have three egg turners so I will add eggs once a week, and I will hatch eggs once a week. Each of the 3 egg turners holds about 40 eggs, so if I can hatch 40 chicks a week for a month, or however long demand is in, I will be set.
In total I spent about $40 on the wood, $140 on the egg turners, $130 on the Incukit, $5 on the Tupperware containers, $10 on the insulation, and the rack was free.
