hatching chicks

[china]

i have 3 bantam hens and 2 of them get very broody sometimes.
bantams are extremley popular in my area, so i was thinking of getting some fertilised eggs and hatching some, but none of my hens are broody at the mo, and incubators seem very expensive,
i have never hatched eggs before so any one with experience, advice is greatly apreciated or just generally what you do lol
is there such a thing as home made incubators

 

[Bowen4Horses]

google homemade incubators, but i think it all looks very complicated.

we got our incubator and brooder (for the chicks when they're little) on Freecycle.

you could always get yourself a bantam cock... or have ours.... we hate him, we're now inundated with little chicks as he's mr hump-a-lot-fertile-pants

xx

 

[Dubsie]

There's tales of people hatching eggs in their airing cupboard, but frankly the humidity has to be just right as well as the temperature, and remembering to turn them. Some of the cheaper incubators you have to turn manually are about £30-40 - try on eBay or ask about and see if you can borrow one?
You could always borrow one of my 2 that have been broody all summer holiday, wretched hens I struggled to get enough from the rest this weekend for all my baking!
(Managed enough for quiches, scones and cakes though: slice of chocolate chip with lemon icing anyone?)

 

[china]

haha! the live in our garden and they are noisey enough with out a cockeral

 

[Tormenta]

Agree with Dubsie. It has to be spot on. My daughter tried it once against my better judgement and hatched one chick out of four, the rest were dead, developed chicks in the shell. I felt guilty as hell.

I'm no expert but if yours are really broody would they not sit if you timed it properly and popped the fertilised eggs amongst a couple of their own laid ones. I do know someone who has done that but as I said, I am no way near an expert.

Edited to say sorry! Just noticed yours aren't broody now.

 

[Nudibranch]

My friend used to hatch a lot of chicks and ducklings using a home made incubator. It was one of those polystyrene fish boxes with a light bulb in the top, and she made a window from perspex so you could see in. She kept it under the stairs so the external temperature was constant: I have no idea how you keep the temperature in the box constant and correct but she said it just happened. She sprayed and turned them twice a day, and the hatch rate was pretty good.