Incubator project

[thebirdguy]

Finally another update.. I got a tray built out of acrylic but when I tested it in the incubator, it blocked way too much of the air flow and created serious thermal banding top to bottom.. So I decided to build my trays out of 1/2 inch hardware cloth. I put some shelf liner in the bottom and this seems to be working really well. I have 3 trays built and while it does seem to still block a little of the air flow, it seems to be ok.

On my turner, I ran into a problem since I am now using the hardware cloth. My egg grid catches a little on the side of the trays as it slides back and forth. So I am not using the turner right now. I got six dozen eggs this week for a trial run and set them on Wednesday. I am manually turning them and so far so good. Humidity is remaining constant at about 32% and the temperature is remaining constant. I will candle them in a week at 10 days and see what the fertility is like. I got these eggs off of craigslist locally for $3/dozen but it was really cold this last week so I am hoping they gathered them often enough that they didn't get chilled too much..

One interesting thing is that my air temperatures in the bottom of the uncubator seem to stay between 94 and 97 degrees and yet the internal temperature of my water wiggler up with the eggs maintains between 99 and 99.7 degrees. It could be that the thermometer is off a little since the hygrometer part was off about 5%, it read 72% when it should have been 75% when I calibrated it.

I think I have figured out how to modify my turner to work with these trays and will be working on it and the remaining two trays this coming month while these eggs are incubating. Then I'll install the turner and test it all out again in March so that I am good to go for Mahonri's Easter Hatch. I'll post more pictures of this first hatch and the final set up after I get the turner and other trays installed next month.

Here's a picture of the 6 dozen eggs incubating right now.

 

[mama24]

I noticed you have your heat source at the top and your thermometer at the bottom. Heat rises, so I would think your top shelf is pretty hot.

 

[thebirdguy]

I have a big fan out of an opaque projector that runs continually. It blows across the top and then down the left side.. pretty good air movement without blowing directly on the eggs.

 

[mama24]

Even with the fan, the top shelf is getting too much direct radiation. Have you checked the temps up there? I'm willing to bet that shelf is much warmer than the bottom, especially in the middle below the light. Maybe try putting another bulb in the bottom of the unit and keep that top bulb where it is? Or put something to deflect the light directly hitting the eggs on the top shelf? That would help the heat be distributed more evenly, but the middle shelf will probably still be slightly cooler, which mioght not matter, depending on how much. Good luck!

Think about it, you're sitting in the sun on a warm spring day with a breeze blowing, you feel nice and warm. Move into the shade, and ylu feel really cold. You aren't getting any direct radiation from the sun, so you feel cold.

 

[thebirdguy]

02-11-11 Well half of my eggs were not fertile.. either that or they were frozen.. at least the price was right.. Anyway.. out of the remaining 34 eggs, I had 26 hatch.. one died last night.. just never did well but the others are all doing great. The 12 eggs that didn't hatch were quitters at various stages, could have been the cold again. The week they were gathered was well below freezing.

The baskets worked great for hatching and were tall enough that even rambuctious chicks were contained. I found that if I topped off my water tray with hot water when I removed chicks that my humidity would be back up to 60% within a couple of minutes. There were no issues with shrink wrapping. I did take the fan out and turn it so that it now blows directly upward. I can tell already that my temperatures are more even top to bottom. This last hatch I think there was about 1.5-2 degrees difference from the top to the bottom trays. There was a full 4 days difference from the first top rack hatch to the last bottom rack hatch.

I set another 63 eggs on the 9th. 2 dozen EE and a dozen varied breed brown eggs from the same source as last time. Hopefully the fertility will be better this time. I also have 27 buff orpington eggs from another source. She cracked three and they were all fertile so hopefully these all are also.

Here's a picture of the set up today.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Last update was a month ago, how did your recent hatch go?

 

[thebirdguy]

Better... The fertility was a little higher than last time and I tried out another source for some eggs..

Last week I made a couple more tweaks... moved the heat tape to the bottom, added the fourth tray and set some silkie eggs on Friday night.. I have 10 dozen eggs I picked up on my way home from my brothers wedding (4 different sources) I think I will let them sit tonight and set them first thing in the morning..

So I will have RIR, EE, Silkies, pure White Ameraucanas, and as soon as they arrive in the mail...(hopefully in the morning) some Black Orpingtons.. This will be the first full blown hatch.. all 4 trays will be full and I should end up with close to 12 dozen eggs in there.. This is also my first experience hatching shipped eggs.. All told I'll have 3 sets of shipped eggs in with the others picked up along my way home from the wedding from 4 other sources..

They'll all be hatching around my birthday 4/4... Can't wait!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I already ordered the sportsman heat element for my incubator but I had considered using the flexwatt. Do you think 2 of the flexwatt strips would produce enough heat that you wouldn't need the light bulb as well?

 

[thebirdguy]

I don't know for sure... I am using just flexwatt in another incubator that I am building but it doesn't have nearly the cubic feet of air that would need to be heated.. I think if you had enough flexwatt, you could probably heat any size... I need to order some more..

 

[shelleyd2008]

http://www.reptilebasics.com/flexwatt-heat-tape/

Cheapest I found in my searches.