incubating eggs in the winter

[KaprikaAZ]

with winter upon us, temps are dropping LOW and incubators need to be adjusted accordingly.


our heat is busted, and i dont know when the mantinence will get around to fixing it. i have a ten gal incubation setup thats WORKED for the warmer seasons, but now its not. and today i borrowed a foam incubator and its litteraly SO cold in my apartment rigth now, its not acheiving 85 degrees.

for now, im using balled up newspaper in my ten gal to insulate. but thats a temp fix for a long term issue
im asking for at home methods

 

[acpart]

I don't know if putting something like a quilt or sleeping bag over the whole set-up will help keep the heat in. Alternatively, if you can bring the incubator over to the home of someone whose heat is not out, that could work.

Aliza

 

[tb144050]

The problem is the insulation isn't sufficient for the environment around it. If you can't provide the insulation and/or enough inside heat to achieve 85F, change the environment.

If you still have electricity, here's what I would try (and I did a couple weeks of experimenting with temp variations in a 10gal tank and styrofoam cooler):

Find a small electric heater ($15 @ Walm_rt) and place it AND the incubator tank SAFELY inside a "container" of some sort....This can even be a cardboard box if you tape all the drafts and if you can SAFELY accomodate the heater so the house doesn't burn down. If not, find a different container......maybe put both in the bathtub and place a solid board over the top so it sits flush.

You get the theory? The incubator will achieve 85F in an acceptable environment....so CREATE AN ACCEPTABLE ENVIRONMENT by using a larger heater and INCUBATING your INCUBATOR. I would constantly monitor this to prevent the environment-heater from overheating the incubator.

It would be best to use a thermostat on the environment-heater, but from your other post, I think you only have a rheostat/dimmer (because you said you have to adjust temps based on your room temp when the neighbor cranks up the heat)...?? If so, you just have to do all the adjustments, triple-check, then check/adjust often, and hope&pray.



------------------------------------------------
-.............................................................. |
-..................... Thermostat set ..............| ..........10 F
-............................ to 70F.....................| .......Outside
-.............................................................. |...temp?
-|-----------------------|............................|
-|............................... |........................... |
-|............................... |........................... |
-|............................... |........................... |
-|........... Incubator.......|........................... |
-|................................|........................... |
-| ......Thermostat set....|............. |--------| |
-|........ to egg temp......|............. | ..........| |
-|...............................|............. |.......... | |
-| |eggs| ....................|............. | Heater | |
-|----------------------|..............|--------| |
----------------------------------------------|

btw, this took about 8 "edits" to get the darn thing to look correctly. In hindsight, I should have just sketched it on paper, uploaded to photobucket, and linked to it.

I firmly believe a cheap small "room heater" can adequately provide a SMALL warmer environment to put your incubator into...then maybe the incubator can reach a safe egg-temp.

 

[stager]

If you could buy on of those mini space heaters pretty cheep at target or walmart. Close the room of and leave the heater on set to 70, those little things heat a decent size room.

 

[tb144050]

Can you give us an update? :O

 

[DrCarrotTail]

You could also go and get a huge piece of styrofoam at home depot or something and cut it to fit around your 10 gallon. Glass is not an insulator so that's the issue you're running into (as others have said). You need a good inch or two of sleeping bag/styrofoam/wood/or anything else that will stop heat from escaping.

 

[KaprikaAZ]

for now, an aquantance lent me their incubator. and setting it at 89 gives me a temp of 85 in the egg cups. so this will work till i get ahold of that Reptipro 6000 i think
so far its been giving me a nice consistant temp. its one of those cheap styrofoam incubators, but it works and im told its still fairly new.

im hoping i can get it in the next 2 months.

 

[tb144050]

Glad to hear they are stable now. good luck on the hatchlings.