What material for homemade incubator? Tips or plans??

[drowe005]

Whats your opinion for the best material for a homemade incubator? Pros and cons of certain materials? I was thinking a plywood box, with a plexiglass window on front, probably 24" X 12",or possibly a little larger, but was unsure of how deep to make it. I plan to be using it to hatch Chukar eggs, never too many at a time as I've only got one breeding pair. I plan on using a light bulb or 2 for the heat source with a dimmer to control temperature, and a cup/bowl of water inside to contribute humidity. What design would be better, light above the eggs, or eggs located suspended on a shelf per say above the heat source? Thanks for any opinions and I am open to any thoughts or tips as this soon coming breeding season will be my first attempt at hatching eggs. Anyone experienced with hatching Chukar that have had good success with certain incubation methods?

 

[skysthelimit]

If you are not on it, go to the backyard chickens forum, there is a whole section dedicated to making incubators. I made mine out of a coleman cooler, water heater, computer fan and a lamp kit. I hatched 4/5 chicken eggs. I'm sure there is someone who has had experience with hatching Chukar, they do have threads for care of other birds.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Here is a link to a post by a friend of mine about the incubator her husband made for her:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/61998 ... made-bator

As Sky suggested, check out their forums on game birds- I imagine that Chukar would have different requirements for heat and humidity, but you could make your unit adjustable so you can hatch out different types of eggs.


*Edit: I guess I should have mentioned this was made for chicken eggs. However, with the adjustable temp and humidity settings it is very adaptable.

There is a post on Craigslist advertising "Chukar Quail Hatching Soon"- maybe this hatchery can answer some of your questions:

http://www.gamebirdhatchery.com

 

[drowe005]

Thanks, I have noticed while doing google searches recently just on Chukars in general, it seems as if 9/10 of the pages are backyardchicken pages. Ill definitely check it out