Diary & Notes ~ Air Cell Detatched SHIPPED Chicken Eggs for incubation and hatching

[Sally Sunshine]

The duel thermostats are wired in series so either thermostat can turn off the heat element. One problem of the wafer thermostats are the micro switches are prone to stick in the on position as a result of normal wear. If the primary thermostat is set at 100 deg for example, the backup thermostat is set at 102. If the primary thermostat sticks on the backup thermostat will turn off the heat element when it temps hit 102 degrees protecting the eggs. Newer GQF cabinet incubators with wafer thermostats employ a solid state relay instead of the duel wafers. With this set up the thermostat only switches the relay on and off while the relay does the heavy work of turning on and of the heat element. Solid state relays have no moving parts so they do not wear and stick. You should be ok with a single thermostat they just don't last forever. Thee nichrome wire heat element with ceramic insulator are great for cabinets incubator. It takes 200 watts or more to heat a cabinet. They have a long service life and low thermal inertia for tighter temp control. Use a grounded wire guard like on the GQF cabinets.I uses them on some of my cabinets and they are safe and effective.

HatchCraft! I have been reading your posts!!

Thank you so much!!!

We will not be using the cabinet for hatching at all, so the life of the wafer should be longer than usual, would be my guess. The wafs in my coolerbators that I incubate and hatch in are pretty dull and used looking and thats from the high humidity and chicken fluff during hatch.

I was reading one of the posts about which way to run the fan back into the back compartment and down and out through the bottom, or out front and down... not quite sure I understood which is best, that was a very informative thread for sure! And the fan, how powerful CFM is it called? and is one or two fans better? and if two I would need to heating sets? The GFQ fan doesnt have details on the replacement part for me to see what power they have.

Thank you so much!!!!!

 

[dolfi]

Just a little to share. I cleaned out the brooder , new feed new water, and paper towels on flooring. Like always went to check on them and to my surprise, the water was not put on tight and it spilled all over. All my chicks were wet. I had to go through the cleaning all over again. Now I can't sleep until they are all dry because I don't want to hurt each other trying to get to the heat lamp

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Just a little to share. I cleaned out the brooder , new feed new water, and paper towels on flooring. Like always went to check on them and to my surprise, the water was not put on tight and it spilled all over. All my chicks were wet. I had to go through the cleaning all over again. Now I can't sleep until they are all dry because I don't want to hurt each other trying to get to the heat lamp

awe thats a bummer, I have done that with newly hatched and they were near death! you got lucky for catching it!!! <running downstairs to check on mine one more time tonight>

 

[dolfi]

awe thats a bummer, I have done that with newly hatched and they were near death! you got lucky for catching it!!!

 

[HatchCraft]

It my opinion the fan should blow to the front. The single fan used in GQF incubators are the same type I use. They are a commercial fan used primarily in refrigeration and require a motor mount or bracket.. The fan motor is sealed and unaffected by dust or humidity. Standard rpm is around 1500. This is important because it is better to move a large volume of air at a lower velocity. The CFM or cubic feet per minute using this type fan is determined by the size of fan blade. Understand that the cfm is referring to a free air measurement, and in the confines of a cabinet the actual cfm is lower. The fan can only push as much air as it can pull. Make sure you design the cabinet with ample clearances for the air to flow. This gives you uniform temp all around. I have experience building and testing many incubators, but it doesn't hurt to experiment and try something new. I'm not claiming to know it all. The fan motors power is rated by watts. The wattage required is determined by the size and pitch of the fan blade you want. Example the single fan sportsman has a 7" 30 deg pitch- five blade fan rated between 200-300 cfms and would require a minimum 4 or 5 watt motor. Some manufactures refer to wattage in factional horsepower . You can use dual axial type fan with the coil wire heat elements. Its hard to find lower speed axial fans that work well in a sportsman sized incubator. I use them in smaller cabinets. You can use high speeds fans if it is only a setter and your not hatching in it . The high speed fans (3000 rpm) are very noisy. Sorry if I long winded.

 

[ozexpat]

HOLY EGG HOLDING BATOR!! oz do they have extra trashed refrigerator or freezers in Philipines? LAY one down! look at this.... and you could get two RACKS in there! ha ha ha

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ors-whether-they-work-or-not/310#post_8959745

my bator holds 12 trays of 45 eggs without double stacking

my back up has 4 hovabator auto turners

my hatcher can handle 200 eggs

then there are the styros................................

 

[ozexpat]

my smaller cabinet has a different ventilation system

I used 2 length of 3"sewer pipe - one in each corner at the back. the pipe is 6 inches short of the ceiling of the bator and at the bottom there is a 90 elbow.

I have a 110v 80mm case fan attatched to the front of the elbow drawing warm air from the top to the bottom. the heat source is 2 cartridge heater elements, one attached to each fan. The elements are rated 220v but running at 110 so they dont get over worked, they are both 200 watts but as i am using half the volts they are only putting out 100w each

the air circulation is very even. it passes up through the 4 egg turners without a breeze but ensures there is top to bottom ventilation.

the cabinet is 3/4 plywood with silver foiled foam insulation

there are 4 x 1" air vents that i can close

i will take pics in 2 weeks

I am going to try and build a auto turning sportsman rip off as my mega bator requires a lever pulled to turn it and i prefer turning more often

 

[dolfi]

my smaller cabinet has a different ventilation system

I used 2 length of 3"sewer pipe - one in each corner at the back. the pipe is 6 inches short of the ceiling of the bator and at the bottom there is a 90 elbow. 

I have a 110v 80mm case fan attatched to the front of the elbow drawing warm air from the top to the bottom. the heat source is 2 cartridge heater elements, one attached to each fan. The elements are rated 220v but running at 110 so they dont get over worked, they are both 200 watts but as i am using half the volts they are only putting out 100w each

the air circulation is very even. it passes up through the 4 egg turners without a breeze but ensures there is top to bottom ventilation.

the cabinet is 3/4 plywood with silver foiled foam insulation 

there are 4 x 1" air vents that i can close

i will take pics in 2 weeks

I am going to try and build a auto turning sportsman rip off as my mega bator requires a lever pulled to turn it and i prefer turning more often

I would love to be able to make my own cabinet incubator. But it all sounds so hard and complicated. I've been following Sally on her questions yet still feel that I don't understand or can't do it.

 

[dolfi]

Last hatch I had trouble with air cells not growing to where it was supposed to be at day 18 . the humidity was kept at 35 then.so this time around today day 17 I keep humidity at 20-25. I checked them and again air cells too small. What can I do to get it right? Haven't heard of less humidity during the first 18 days. Any suggestions? Tomorrow is lock down and I don't think air cells would grow in 24 hours.

 

[ozexpat]

Last hatch I had trouble with air cells not growing to where it was supposed to be at day 18 . the humidity was kept at 35 then.so this time around today day 17 I keep humidity at 20-25. I checked them and again air cells too small. What can I do to get it right? Haven't heard of less humidity during the first 18 days. Any suggestions? Tomorrow is lock down and I don't think air cells would grow in 24 hours.

are you weighing or just eyeballing?