Both babies hatched without much incident. We had one slight emergency issue. I'd been asking my husband to extend the tray that the eggs sit on because I was concerned that the chicks, once hatched, would run right off the platform and into the water dish below. He assured me that he didn't think it was an issue - I mostly sighed a lot and assured him that I know a lot more about hatching chicks than he did. Sure enough, the first baby ran -right- into the water. Thankfully I'd added accordianed paper towel which had wicked up most everything and there was all of half an inch left in there. Still a lot for a little chick but not enough to cause immediate drowning. I heard its distress cheeps and scooped it out to dry it off and warm it up and then moved it to the brooder while we patched together a fix to make sure that this didn't happen to the second chick. At the same time he (apparently having woken to the potential dangers in the incubator) made a wire cage to go around the bulb so that the chicks wouldn't end up touching it.Congrats Tandykins -for the second one.
Love the cute fluffiness with racing stripes Satay.
OMGOMGOMG I want to snug them all!!
27 quails off to the brooder more pipping. Not all in pic as they wouldn't stay still long enough.
Eventually once the kinks have been worked out. Right now it's in its infancy. This is the first stab at it. He put it together, ran the code once - got the components not to fry from too much power and then we ran this incubation in it. 2/5 eggs hatched. 1 never developed, 2 quit.- so cute Tandykins.
Your bator design looks interesting too. Are you going to do a page for it? I'd love to see one.
Awesome design. Much like what I want to do if I can get enough money to build it. I big difference in what I was considering though . I plan to add humidity through a mister nozzle and a pump instead of a sitting water tray. ( the mister would be below the egg tray so as not to risk washing the eggs or hatchlings)Eventually once the kinks have been worked out. Right now it's in its infancy. This is the first stab at it. He put it together, ran the code once - got the components not to fry from too much power and then we ran this incubation in it. 2/5 eggs hatched. 1 never developed, 2 quit. We had an issue at around Day 10 where the code missed an error and the temperature dropped to around 32C for a period of about 6 hours. The two eggs which quit appeared to have quit then. This issue has since been resolved and the temperature/humidity levels have been stable since as long as we do not keep it in a draughty room.This is it right now - not looking too pretty at the moment. Right now the wiring is mostly patched together from spare parts but once these chicks are out we're going to dismantle it and install cabling and an on/off switch. All of that will have a proper, metal housing custom made for it when we're sure that we no longer need to access it often (with the LCD still visible, of course) - it gives a live idea of humidity and temperature.
A closer look at the Arduino controller and the LCD monitor.
The top originally had two fans set into it but we found that temperatures dropped too fast and that it was staying on too often to compensate. It also made it much harder to control humidity. Now we use one for the webcam which is honestly poorly situated. I will be installing a pinhole webcam through a hole in the side and then we intend to install sliding vent covers over both holes which make it easier to control humidity.
You can see here where the emergency originated from. The wooden tray does not extend all the way across the incubator and the chick ran off the edge into the water. I had been worried this would happen. Now he knows better and once these chicks are out will make a wooden tray which goes all the way across. The holes are drilled in the bottom to allow for humidity. We're debating sealing the inside base with fiberglass so that the bottom can simply be filled with water or simply using containers to hold water. He prefers the former idea and thinks it will be fine, I think that it presents some issues and I like the idea of what is ultimately an electronic device having all water closely contained and not freeflowing. I think both of our ideas have merits. The lightbulb cover is essentially a chicken wire cube which is pressed into the styrofoam and is only meant to be temporary. The sensors all update wirelessly and we can monitor the humidity and temperature from here: http://private.himi.org/sensors/incubator It's fluctuating a lot now because I've been opening the lid often and shifting things around. If you look at the 1 Week view you can see when lockdown started and humidity began to increase. We had some issues getting it high enough until we added the accordianed paper towel which did the trick. You can also see when the hatch was completed and the humidity dropped. [COLOR=B42000]
[/COLOR] The light turns on when the temperature reaches 36.5C and turns off when the temperature reaches 38.5C attempting to keep it right around 37.5C. Improvements we intend to make are: Adding LED lighting so that we can see when the heating lamp is off. Installing a better placed webcam and perhaps multiple webcams Making webcams viewable by live feed so that I can consult with people on hatchings at a distance simply by providing them with a link A water tube installed in the side. Sliding vents over the holes in the lid A longer tray inside An easily removable lightbulb cover which allows for changing of the bulb Implementing the new code which is cleaner and has better emergency protocols which will: * Stop running the fans if the water runs out to keep humidity high * Be cleaner code in general * Send email alerts during emergency situations (no water, temperature falling, etc) A stiff, accordianed fabric wick that will be permanent and reusable. (One of the things I'm working on is taking an old brick phone with a prepaid SIM card and hacking it so that we can get SMS alerts in emergencies but this requires an Arduino with better network control and a Raspberry Pi - it's on the list for future builds) We're a very nerdy house.
It actually wasn't that expensive. We got most of our stuff either from scrapping electronics or by buying directly from China (rather than going through an Australian supplier that just buys from China anyway).
. Good point if the misted water hits the buld the bulb would explode violently. I have a few brick heaters I was planning on using for heating
