Building an Incubator & choosing quail breed

[cookiesdaddy]

Hello everyone - I'm a loooong time member but been MIA for years now coming back, an amateur chickens daddy who is beginning a new flock of 6, maximum allowed in my city of San Jose - 1 Australorp, 1 Barred Rock, 1 California Grey, 3 Sebright Bantams. Bantams were unsexed so had to get 3 to make sure. Bought them at Scotts Valley Feed - great place strongly recommend it.

Been reading BYC again and got a craze to start raising quails for eggs and meat. Still don't like the idea of culling it but hopefully I'll get used to it. I like the idea of having roosters (hopefully not too loud), fertilized eggs and reproduction. There's plenty of space in my protected chicken coop so I'm planning to build a raised quail cage for them. Planning on buying eggs from JMF and build an incubator myself.

Enough about my background. Now on to my questions:

- I plan to build the incubator with 1/2 plywood frame outside, 2" insulation foam (too thick but I have 4x8 laying around), 2 x 40W light bulbs, digital thermostat (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KVCPH2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A197YPAPAP8V04), auto egg-turner using a synchronous motor ... want to go all out. Did I say I had a craze about this? I have a question - HOW BIG SHOULD I BUILD THE INCUBATOR? The max I think ever go in there is 24 or 36 quail eggs. No chicken. I don't think I need a big box. At the same time I saw some on youtube that say you need space to put jars of water inside as a "heat sink". For those that built or used an incubator - would you please give inputs what would you do different, or what you wish your incubator had? Do I really need a fancy egg turner or just have a mechanism to roll them around a few time a day?

- Secondly - I saw from JMF website listing several different breeds -- too confusing, too many choices. What would you recommend as the easiest for beginners. I'd be first interested in size (as large as possible), egg productivity and easy hatching. I guess I will venture in some breeds that have better appearance fanciness later. What would you recommend?

I'm looking forward to hear from all of you, experts and amateurs alike. THANKS!

 

[midget_farms]

headed to a meeting - I'll respond to this in a bit.....but wanted to book mark it so I didn't lose it!

 

[midget_farms]

OK - back from my meeting.

Everyone I've ever spoken to who built an incubator will tell you "Not big enough" as one of the main complaints.

I built mine 24 by 40 & it will hold more eggs than I would ever dare want to actually hatch.

I use 2 60watt bulbs - always use 2 bulbs in case one burns out on you - which I had happen yesterday.

I have a manual turner - its a simple board the eggs sit on - in the carton - with a handle sticking out each side of the bator as a pivot. I turn it & insert a dowel to hold it up, then next time I pull the dowel & turn it back. Really I use a spare drill bit or a nail as my dowell. Nothing sophisitcated here.

I use an analog house thermostat I got at Ace for $25 that I mounted 1 inch off the side wall just above the computer fan.

the fan runs on 12 volts from an old cell phone charger & the thermostat & lights run on a relay system.


I have had several successful hatches - but it took me two full on disasters to work out the kinks. I had way too much air flow in this & it dried out my eggs.

If I had 1 thing I wish I had done - I would figure out some kind of an automatic turner.

 

[cookiesdaddy]

Thank you for replying with helpful tips. I just bought a big 24V fan thinking the more airflow the better. Now I know to slow it down (using lower voltage) or else I'll dry out the eggs. Very timely advise.

I saw a design on BYC (https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...bator-how-we-did-it-and-test-run-ready-set-go) that I want to copy the channeling of airflow, except that instead of building the channel outside the box I'll separate my compartment by a layer of heavy brick (serving as a thermal mass to help stabilize the temperature). Hopefully it will works. Will take pictures.

Also thanks to your tip regarding humidity. I guess I have to make sure there're a few plates inserted in the bottom with sponges so I can feed warm water from outside to increase humidity. Do you have other suggestions how to control / add humidity?

24 x 40? That's HUGE

 

[midget_farms]

Humidity can be tricky - in order to bring the humidity up you need more surface area not just more water. I have 2 paint trays on the bottom of my incubator with a large sponge in each & a copper tube running from outside to the tray.

This way - I can keep steady humidity throughout the hatch, but during lock down when I need to increase it - I add more water. The paint tray having a slanted bottom, the more water I add the greater the surface area of the water so the greater the humidity.

It works really well & is very simple - KISS method for me when I can.

On day 18 I remove the turner board they eggs have been happily riding on & just set the eggs on the floor (screen floor above the paint trays) and lock it down. I can still add water to keep the humidity high and watch through the plexi top.

I should say - some people like the cabinet design, but when I was researching there was a lot of chatter about having a tall design created hot & cold spots in the bator. So mine is more of a chest design - think old army footlocker with a plexi lid & you have a good idea.

Works great but is ugly - I'm actually considering building a new one now that I have the basics down - I want something with an automatic turner. That would just work out better for me.

 

[midget_farms]

Wow - the coleman incubator is so much nicer than mine! - but then I built mine out of around the house parts & have about $30 in it.

I need to do some research on an auto turner....

 

[cookiesdaddy]

For the egg turner I'm thinking building something like this:

Already ordered a slow synchronous motor on eBay 1 RPM from China. Will takes a few weeks to get here though. If you find any other good design please share. Thanks.

BTW love your idea of the paint tray & increase surface area. Excellent idea!!! I don't understand why you still need the sponge? Does the sponge rest in the bottom part, that always has water?

 

[midget_farms]

I could probably get away without the sponge - but it makes me feel better.

I keep it in the deep end of the tray directly below the computer fan. It helps bring the water from the tray to the fan & gets it circulating around good. But again - it's probably overkill.