Hens go broody when you don’t want them to… and won’t go broody when you do. Ok. So here is the story behind this incubator.
I had a friend bring by a dickey incubator. I wanted to build one. After seeing the bator i wanted to customize it to me so i added a few extras. The first thing that had to go was the 1/2" plywood, so i built mine with 13/16" cabnet grade heart pine lumber. The board stock is 11 1/4" wide by 12' long. For this project i needed 2 boards. to make the wider sections i used a biscuit joiner and titebond glue. I used my raised panel door kit to make the front and rear doors.
The next thing i wanted to do was to add an access to the back in order to maintain the fan, the heater and the egg turner motor.
Next i built the egg turner out of 2'x3' galvinized sheet metal avalable at lowe's in the hvac section. I cut and bent the pieces on my 40" metal brake. I got a fan, thermo, heater, and thermocoupler from a space heater and cut up a paint can for a houseing.
I bought some switches and led lights from radio shack and made a easy access switch box. The switches turn on/off the egg turner,fan,heaters (there is a high and a low), and the light to see whats going on. The other button is the thermostat adjustment. Currently it is manual. However i'm on the look out for a good low priced electric thermo for this unit.
Here is the back door of the unit. I used 2" sofet vents. They are pretty and adjustable. On the front and back doors i use window latches. They help compress the weather stipping.
Here is a picture of the front of the build. I mounted this one upside down per request. But the fan was blowing directly on the glass and through the temp sensor out of wack, so i had to reverse the door.
I like it better this way anyhow. Well as you can see via the Temperature gauge the inside temp varys with the heater turning off and on. So i made a fake egg and put the outside temp sensor in it and filled it up with some material and it reads 99.3 degrees. The humidity is currently 42%. In order for me to raise that i take out the small yogart bucket and replace it with a 12x12 plastic tray giving more surface area which in tests has brought the humidity up to 80%.
Well i guess that the jest of it. i also built a 288 egg bator first this was my second build. this one took me 20 hours start to finish.
I had a friend bring by a dickey incubator. I wanted to build one. After seeing the bator i wanted to customize it to me so i added a few extras. The first thing that had to go was the 1/2" plywood, so i built mine with 13/16" cabnet grade heart pine lumber. The board stock is 11 1/4" wide by 12' long. For this project i needed 2 boards. to make the wider sections i used a biscuit joiner and titebond glue. I used my raised panel door kit to make the front and rear doors.
The next thing i wanted to do was to add an access to the back in order to maintain the fan, the heater and the egg turner motor.
Next i built the egg turner out of 2'x3' galvinized sheet metal avalable at lowe's in the hvac section. I cut and bent the pieces on my 40" metal brake. I got a fan, thermo, heater, and thermocoupler from a space heater and cut up a paint can for a houseing.
I bought some switches and led lights from radio shack and made a easy access switch box. The switches turn on/off the egg turner,fan,heaters (there is a high and a low), and the light to see whats going on. The other button is the thermostat adjustment. Currently it is manual. However i'm on the look out for a good low priced electric thermo for this unit.
Here is the back door of the unit. I used 2" sofet vents. They are pretty and adjustable. On the front and back doors i use window latches. They help compress the weather stipping.
Here is a picture of the front of the build. I mounted this one upside down per request. But the fan was blowing directly on the glass and through the temp sensor out of wack, so i had to reverse the door.
I like it better this way anyhow. Well as you can see via the Temperature gauge the inside temp varys with the heater turning off and on. So i made a fake egg and put the outside temp sensor in it and filled it up with some material and it reads 99.3 degrees. The humidity is currently 42%. In order for me to raise that i take out the small yogart bucket and replace it with a 12x12 plastic tray giving more surface area which in tests has brought the humidity up to 80%.
Well i guess that the jest of it. i also built a 288 egg bator first this was my second build. this one took me 20 hours start to finish.
