Colorado

[Camp Leader]

Great looking coop. I tried building and lack some skill. Ended up buying a used step2 kids playhouse. I have to stop adding to my flock for now. Son still looking to add a few rehomed girls to his flock here in Colorado Springs

 

[NurseChicky]

Here is the inside. I need to put bedding in nesting boxes and sand on the floor. All in good time. The chicks should be here mid February.

 

[suncatcher]

Chickens are addicting, but can think of worse things to be addicted to!! Once you start hatching, chicken math takes over!

 

[Pozees]

Here is the inside. I need to put bedding in nesting boxes and sand on the floor. All in good time. The chicks should be here mid February.

Very nicely done, bet you can't wait to fill it with chickens!

 

[Pozees]

I have a few pictures together as well as a small part list,

1 used wine refrigerator with glass front door. Remove all cooling system components and shelves. I found a short one. This set up could heat a large one.
1 replacement heating coil and insulators for a GQF sportsmans cabinet incubator.
1 120mm computer fan, lights optional.
1 16x8 piece of glass for a shelf and baffle.
1 16x 6 piece of metal to mount the fan and heater coil to.
1 digital temperature controller. I am using the celceous one at the moment. I will be getting a fahrenheight one by the end of the month. Either will work, However I find

with the celceous controller It can be set at 37 degrees or 38 degrees. 37 is a bit low and 38 is a touch high to my likeing. I would like to hold the temperature steady at 100 degrees if I have a chance. Right now it holds steady at 100.4F


Here is how the incubator build turned out. I used the original cord and ran it to a electrical plug that Installed on the back of the unit. I plug in the fan transformer and the egg turner into it. This way I don't take up too many outlets or need a electrical strip in order to use it. Now it is a Magic Chef incubator. You can see the lit up fan on the inside through the door glass.



Thermostat up and running. Controlling the heater coil inside the unit. I have it programmed to come on at 37 (98.6)and off at 38 (100.4) It is holding the internal temp steady at 100.4F



Picture of the wired up electrical plug on the back. Its just a metal outlet box and cover wired up and attached to the cabinet. It works pretty slick to keep electrical close. That is my power adapter for my computer fan and the plug for the egg turner plugged into the outlet. The box is mounted where all the refrigeration accessories were.


With the cabinet door open you can see from top to bottom The CPU fan on the special metal mount with the heating coils in front of it. There used to be a shelf that slid into two rails along the side just below the fan mount. I removed this and cut a piece of glass 16 inches by 8 inches so that I could place the water there in front of the fan. This also lets the light from the fan illuminate the inside of the cabinet.
Next is the shelf for the modified egg turner. I made the shelf out of a used semi truck grill screen. It is about 1/16 inch hardware cloth with a frame around the edges for structure. The gaps give enough room for the air to circulate through.
The egg turner is a standard Farm Innovators turner with the back tray cut off. It would not fit otherwise. There is a wireless thermometer in front of the egg turner also. The temp at the front is the same as the temp. at the back so far.
On the bottom of the unit is Thermal mass in the form of full water bottles. This keeps temp swings to a minimum.



Closer picture of the fan and heater coils mounted with the insulators. Cutting the round hole in the piece of sheet aluminum was quite the task without a hole saw. You can see my water dish sitting there on the shelf in order to supply humidity. Humidity is running at a nice steady 42% by the way.To get it to hatching humidity, I should just have to place another dish on the same shelf.

I need to do a proper write up at a later date, but I though I would let you guys see my progress. 19 eggs are in there at the moment, to give it a test run. Let me know if you have any questions and what you think.

Wow! I can't wait to hear how it works!

 

[samsr]

I do have 19 eggs in the WINE-O-BATOR at the moment. 6 silkie, 5 California white 1 RIR egg and 7 buff orpington eggs from the neighbor. I did find out that I need a hose running from the top of the unit to the water tray inside. I had to fill it today by opening the door. The bator doesn't take long to rebound from opening the door, however.
If I make the mods to hold more auto turner trays then I can probably hatch 77 at a time pretty easily. I don't think I will ever do that for myself though. That's a lot of chicks.
I will report on how it is doing in the coming weeks. Total cost by the way was $100.08 and about 3 hours of construction. It is a fun project to do if one is so inclined to. Most of the parts came off ebay.

 

[Pozees]

Just had to share with my Colorado peeps that I am enjoying an actual hatch of shipped eggs Day 20 we have 4 hatched and 2 pipped. I set 49 eggs on the 31st. I had all in incubators for a week, then put 16 of them under broodies a week later. 20 did not develop, 29 either did or are under broodies and we really don't know for sure yet. I left 3 in the incubator because they did not look developed enough to hatch, and will check them again tomorrow and either toss them or move them to the hatcher, when I will take out the chicks that have already hatched as long as there are no pips working. The first in the hatcher hatched this morning after I left for work, so it will be fine until tomorrow, another marked LBAM (which I believe meant Light Blue Ameraucana) hatched tonight along with one of my own Egyptian Fayoumis. A Cream Legbar and a White Silkie are pipped, and another of my own eggs is pipped as well, father is the Partridge Rock and mother we believe is a Speckled Sussex. We removed a White Silkie and a BBS Silkie from the hens that hatched them after they pecked at the White chick's head, they still have 4 eggs that I am hoping will hatch tomorrow. The girls in the other pen have Cream Legbars, Orpingtons and Silkies, and if they have begun to hatch they have not shown themselves yet. I'm not worried yet since tomorrow is Day 21.

For those not familiar with the trials of hatching shipped eggs in CO, the challenges are many. On average, shipped eggs have about a 50% hatch rate. At our elevation generally more like 25%. I have had many zero hatches on shipped eggs, along with those 1 or 2 eggs hatching out of a dozen or more. It is frustrating. Add in the shippers who are not truthful about the age of the eggs, who do not wrap and package well, then the handling of the PO, and one can spend a LOT of money on a few chicks. For example, I received a box of 36 White Silkie eggs last week, the box was completely intact, yet 10 of the eggs were broken. Fortunately in this case the seller asked me to pay only for shipping up front, and to pay for the eggs only if I had development. I rested them almost 24 hours, then set them in the Eco without activating the turner. Tomorrow will be five days since I set them, at which point I will move them to the incubator with activated turner. I will check for development at that point, but have very low confidence there will be any, and at day 5 there should be veining apparent.

Anyway, I'm very happy to have some hatching happening on these eggs - they are a really nice mix of breeds I don't have ready access to, and if I get a decent hatch I will be over the moon

 

[suncatcher]

Are you using your Sportsman with this hatch? Is very exciting when shipped eggs actually hatch! Keep that breeder info for future egg ordering, they are few, and far between! I have never seen a light blue Ameraucana, here is hoping you get a breeding pair from those eggs! I think a big part of being successful is when FRESH eggs are shipped, my experience has been when shipped eggs are under three days old, you get a higher hatch rate. Of course how they are packaged is just as important! Also, bigger eggs, such as goose, duck, turkey or peafowl don't fair as well with shipping as the smaller eggs.

On letting the hens share in the incubation, I have read on line about a peafowl breeder who uses Bantam Cochin hens to start their peafowl eggs for the first two weeks, after that time they then move the peafowl eggs into their big incubator and move the Bantam Cochin eggs back under their hens. They have increased their peafowl hatch rate by doing this, and still have a decent Cochin hatch rate too. .

I am hatching along with everyone via this thread!

 

[Dnetschke]

I'm looking at getting a ceramic heat emitting bulb for my coop. My question is what wattage should I get?

 

[Pozees]

Suncatcher, yes using the Sportsman and also using a humidifier in the room running full blast 24-7, which means it uses a gallon every 12 hours, but it seems to have helped. I quite agree about the age of the eggs making a difference, and letting them rest unless you can tell they are old, in which case i just put them right into an incubator but don't start turning for 2-5 days depending on how the air cells look. ronott1 (aka, the hatching god) says age is the number one enemy of shipped eggs, and I believe him. I will continue tweaking my methods but so far I am having much better luck now that incubation temps are correct and stable, humidity is higher in the room, and I got a shipment from someone who knows how to pack eggs. I already PMd them to let them know how pleased I am. It was Hardin Poultry, although they are changing their farm name as they have bought out a big Orpington breeder in Florida and are moving there, and of course I can't remember the new name. Turns out the age of my brain is my enemy too LOL