A Little story.

Back in 1995 while in high school, I did the most famous science project of my life. I built a chicken incubator out of a cardboard box with a pane of glass to see, a light and a thermometer. It is by today's standards a bare bones incubator and I didn't succeed in hatching anything but it has never been succeeded.

Flash forward to 2013 after getting a Masters in Computer Science and Information Systems about 3 years after discovering Arduino. I thought about that old project I did and after years of wanting to duplicate it again. I decided to do it. However unlike 1995, I wanted to apply what I learned about using an arduino to the new chicken incubator. It is going to be a self-regulating life support system that will cool down automatically when the temperature gets too hot.

Step 1: Found Box

Luckily I found this box in an alley in the summer of 2013 and after a long wait, I painted it red and put a light inside it. I won't tell you how to make your own containment. You can decide what containment you want.

Step 2: Installing the Light

Here's where I install the heart of the device, the Lightbulb, recommend a standard 60 watt bulb

Step 3: It's Alive

Step 4: Incubator Self Regulation

Chicken eggs need a temperature between 23C and 25c (99F to 101F) and humidity of 90% to properly incubate. I used an arduino to control the incubator's self regulation. A DHT22 sensor detects temperature/humidity and sends it to the arduino to display it on the LCD.

Step 5: The Fan and the Relay

The fan is ripped from an old power supply and used to blow out hot air. It's connected to a 12v source switched by a relay on D7 on the arduino.

Step 6: How to Make Your Own Self Regulation System for Your Chicken Incubator

A list of the part I've used

Arduino UNO
Breadboard or any circuit rail
DHT22 Sensor
A fan( preferably a PC fan, If you want to use a heavy duty fan, you can do so. I just don't know the best way to split 120v 2 amps through the relay)

I've included the schematics