Ancient Incubator, I wonder if we can DIY this.

[FutureMillionaire]

There is a century old Balut factory in the Philippines that uses an incubator method that doesn't use electricity nor gas for heating. This Balut factory had been around during the times Philippines was still a Spanish colony. They have this Unique incubator that can make duck eggs develop embryos by putting them inside a hole while they are wrapped by meshes and blankets. They can make eggs develop embryos for 10 to 17 days but I wonder if they can fully hatch birds.

I want to do something similar to it but not for balut purposes. I was thinking incubating collecting multiple eggs then incubate them for 15 days then transfer them to broody hens or see if this primitive incubator can produce babies.

The video about it is not in English.

Here are some important screenshots on how they use this ancient incubator.

They have these wooden boxes with baskets inside and the baskets are buried in rice hulls. They added cartons in the basket for additional heat.


First they wrap the eggs inside a bag made of mosquito net mesh.

They sealed the mesh bag by knotting.

Then put it inside the basket.

Then they cover the eggs with an open mesh bag of rice hulls.

After 10 days, they candle the eggs, THe fertile ones turn into balut or continue incubating and the non fertile ones are used for making salted eggs or any egg product.

They use this incubator for 10 to 18 days. I wonder if the eggs will hatch if they continued.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Not likely without better temperature control. They can do this because of the high ambient temperature. There is hatching potential if eggs are kept between 85F and 104F.
I've had eggs in nests begin to develop in summer when I failed to collect in a timely manner.
That doesn't mean it is recommended for healthy chicks/ducklings/goslings/poults etc..
Below optimum temperature increases mortality and below 95F for sustained periods results in disproportional development and deformities as some organs and systems develop at different rates.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

What is the highs and lows this time of year in the Philippines where you are? I think like ChickenCanoe said, it could cause deformities. You could try it on a smaller batch and see, and report back to let us know.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Are you sure there isn't any source of heat underneath? I ask is because it reminds me so much of the hot spring/spa places where they bury you in hot sand that is heated by the spring.

On the subject of incubating without your typical incubator it can happen if it's hot enough where you live. It's just a matter of how consistent you can keep the temperatures when it cools at night or possibly spikes in the afternoon, not an easy task, but nothing is impossible.

This egg was collected in the summer heat here in Georgia and must have rolled to a more insulated area for a few days before I put it in the incubator (Day 0).

 

[FutureMillionaire]

Yeah the tropical environment of the Philippines may have something to do with it. The video explained they got the heat from the rice hulls and the cartons. I am not sure though if you can produce a living duckling or chick out of it since they harvest the eggs around they 10 to 17 for Balut purposes.

 

[Paterino Del Galaxia]

Yeah the tropical environment of the Philippines may have something to do with it. The video explained they got the heat from the rice hulls and the cartons. I am not sure though if you can produce a living duckling or chick out of it since they harvest the eggs around they 10 to 17 for Balut purposes.

I think that is real possible, not sure though if it would work on chicken eggs... Sa Philippines naman, mainit eh so It would work. Yes, I can speak in tagalog.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Randomly came across a YouTube video today where someone basically made a tiny plastic greenhouse with cups over rice hulls and left it in the sun to incubate and hatch...

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Found the link. It made me think of this post.

 

[nao57]

The phillipines is a nice place.

But they have a huge advantage in that they are already so humid they don't even have to think about it. Plus, their normal non-winters are already enough to practically give them some form of hatch success rate.

So I don't think you can compare.

For here, you might be able to do something like that during the summer. But in the US you have much lower humidity unless you are in the south. Plus, in many parts of the US the night temperature plummets, especially if you are by 'mountains' or hills, which change air currents.

Florida or Hawaii could probably just hatch them right on the sand.

Outside that, it would depend on a lot of things, like how you'd account for night temperatures. And also raw low humidity heat would cook the eggs in some places... Arizona for example.

I'm not saying you shouldn't experiment. But you'd have to think about this a bit and do a lot of tweaks.

 

[FutureMillionaire]

Found the link. It made me think of this post.

I think I might try that and see what happens.