Power it's and load shedding?

[Mocktheduck]

So I am anticipating getting an incubator for Christmas. I have found a place to source eggs and I have done as much research as I can. The only thing I cannot find help on is the following.

I live in South Africa and we routinely have a thing called "loadshedding" which means 1-2 times a day we are without power for around 2 hours. Now there is a schedule that is followed and some days we miss it, some days we have it twice...etc. for example today we have it from 8pm-10pm.

It is rather warm at this point as we are in the middle of summer.

So I guess my question is will I still be able to incubate eggs even if I lose power for those 2 hours? Or should I get a battery for the incubator so it can keep going? Some places I have read is that it's fine as long as you don't open the incubator, others say it won't work...etc.

 

[BDutch]

I recommend a broody and natural hatching in these circumstances.

Another more expensive solution is a solar power panel with a battery, a 12V system like they have on boats. Does the incubator have a 12 V connection?
That works at least during the day when the suns is up and some time after that. You can calculate the duration if you know the capacity of the battery and the use of power of the incubator. A large panel and large battery should to it. But this can be quit expensive. But its a good investment for other usages too.

I have no experience with incubators. But its normal a broody leaves the nest for about ½ h each day. Some say one hour does no harm. It all depends on temp of course. The last days the hen doesn’t leave the nest and these are the most critical.

 

[Mocktheduck]

I recommend a broody and natural hatching in these circumstances.

Another more expensive solution is a solar power panel with a battery, a 12V system like they have on boats. Does the incubator have a 12 V connection?
That works at least during the day when the suns is up and some time after that. You can calculate the duration if you know the capacity of the battery and the use of power of the incubator. A large panel and large battery should to it. But this can be quit expensive. But its a good investment for other usages too.

I have no experience with incubators. But its normal a broody leaves the nest for about ½ h each day. Some say one hour does no harm. It all depends on temp of course. The last days the hen doesn’t leave the nest and these are the most critical.

I didn't think about solar. We do have a solar panel and battery system and inverter that we normally use for lights when the power goes out. I'm gonna chat with my husband and see if it can be adapted to run the incubator.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Is the outage every day? 30C should be ok for a couple hours. Perhaps keep the incubator in a warmer part of the house or cover it temporarily with a towel to hold some heat in without limiting oxygen. A hand held heat pack thrown in at the beginning could be a option. That temperature isn't low enough to stop cell division, just slow it in parts of the embryo. Keep in mind too that internal egg temperature will be warmer than ambient temperature for part of that time.

Your generator should run it. How many eggs does your system hold? The wattage or amperage should be on a label attached to the incubator close to where the power cord enters. It will have all names, model numbers, etc. plus the wattage. You can calculate between watts and amps easily.
Are you on a 120 volt or 250 volt system? is it 50 hertz or 60 hertz?

 

[Mocktheduck]

As an update, I managed to incubate and have 2 out of the 13 hatch. We on day 21 now so I don't think anymore will hatch. But I also put some of that down to my own incompetence and not power outages. Definitely learned a lot for the next batch.
Thanks all for the wonderful advice!

 

[Mocktheduck]

Nice, but you probably get more chicks. No pips? Normal sized chickens?. Please wait at least 2 more days for a final answer.

They Quail eggs, so on day 21 we already pushing it I think...
There is one that pipped yesterday but nothing's happened since and the hole where it pipped has gone dark yellow. But that's it.

I figured Lemme try with the quail first before buying chicken eggs as I have those readily available

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Normally, what is the ambient temperature when you have an outage?
Is it ever over 2 hours?
Do you have a warning when it is coming?

 

[fuzzi]

I'm just here to learn.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Smallish incubators don't use a great deal of power starting at about 40 watts and up to perhaps 100 watts so if the generator can light a couple light bulbs, it will run the incubator.
That said, in general, anything electric providing heat is one of the most demanding uses of electricity and solar isn't the best source for a heat application. You just need to do the math. Nearly anything is possible if the math works out.

 

[BDutch]

That said, in general, anything electric providing heat is one of the most demanding uses of electricity and solar isn't the best source for a heat application.

Solar works great for anything that needs electricity. A device that only needs 40 watt should be no problem with 1 small panel and a good battery.
(From: https://shopsolarkits.com/blogs/lea...atteries-do-i-need-for-a-100-watt-solar-panel) Typically, 100-watt solar panels have size measurements of around 47 x 21.3 x 1.4 inches. For a 100 watt solar panel, a 100 Ah 12V battery would work well.