Homemade Incubators

[DMRippy]

Sorry I can't find my camera, may have left it at the farm.

This is the only pic of the bator I have right now. It is about 44 inches by 34 inches and maybe 5ft tall with the casters on it. It hold 540 eggs, 180 per tray. This is before the walls. I added the flexwatt at about the level of the first tray. It runs along one short wall, one long wall and partially down the other short wall. I have 2 fans, in opposite corners, one blowing up and one down. So far the temp at the top and bottom are usually pretty close, less than a degree and most of the time even closer.



I just set 115 eggs and it still looks empty

I have another 6 doz plus eggs to add in a couple of days. I didn't want to set them all at the same time. My hatcher will only handle so many eggs. I need to finish the second one... soon!

 

[Jessshan8]

I agree with DMRippy I have found the thermostat very good as well it holds the temperature spot on. i was kinda skeptical when i ordered it on ebay but I couldn't beat the price well worth the $21.

 

[Jessshan8]

Sorry I can't find my camera, may have left it at the farm.

This is the only pic of the bator I have right now. It is about 44 inches by 34 inches and maybe 5ft tall with the casters on it. It hold 540 eggs, 180 per tray. This is before the walls. I added the flexwatt at about the level of the first tray. It runs along one short wall, one long wall and partially down the other short wall. I have 2 fans, in opposite corners, one blowing up and one down. So far the temp at the top and bottom are usually pretty close, less than a degree and most of the time even closer.



I just set 115 eggs and it still looks empty

I have another 6 doz plus eggs to add in a couple of days. I didn't want to set them all at the same time. My hatcher will only handle so many eggs. I need to finish the second one... soon!

Wow I would love to see the whole thing in action when you can get the pic. Looks awsome so far. How did you construct the turner mechanism?

 

[DMRippy]

I agree with DMRippy I have found the thermostat very good as well it holds the temperature spot on. i was kinda skeptical when i ordered it on ebay but I couldn't beat the price well worth the $21.

Just noticed yours says 39 something.... you know you can calibrate it? We just figured that one out today. Had ours set at 41.8 the first night to get to temp and the F4 was set to something like 4.1 so I set it to 0 and that fixed that. We are running it up to 37.8 because of the .3 temps swings. Hubby told me to order another one. I got 3 originally, I needed one for the new bator, 1 for a hatcher and a spare I though. Now I need 2 hatchers and to fix the OLD bator. So I will be ordering more in the next few days.

 

[DMRippy]

Wow I would love to see the whole thing in action when you can get the pic. Looks awesome so far. How did you construct the turner mechanism?

Similar to my original bator on my page in my siggy. I have detailed pics of this one too. We used a rotisserie motor BUT that would not turn with weight. A friend brought me a powerful motor, but it was too fast so we took the gear down part of the rotisserie off and soldered it to the bigger motor so we didn't have to do too much changing. Works great! Really slow with 2 sets of gear down thingies. Takes about 2 mins to move from one side to the other. When I have time I will make a page with all the details.

 

[Tacso-A]

DMRippy

You mentioned the motor from the "showtime" routessie.....and it not being big enough.....That's the question....I am using the flex-watt tape as a heat source....a full size upright freezer......a nice size fan with a thermometer that will more than handle anything.....I am trying to work out the details of a self built egg turners....I had thought about using "wind power" or "water power" to move the eggs....but then, sort of unconventional....so then, I found your blog and the mention of the routesserie......what size and type motor is large enough.....and a few pictures would help a lot....Tacso-A

 

[DMRippy]

DMRippy

You mentioned the motor from the "showtime" routessie.....and it not being big enough.....That's the question....I am using the flex-watt tape as a heat source....a full size upright freezer......a nice size fan with a thermometer that will more than handle anything.....I am trying to work out the details of a self built egg turners....I had thought about using "wind power" or "water power" to move the eggs....but then, sort of unconventional....so then, I found your blog and the mention of the routesserie......what size and type motor is large enough.....and a few pictures would help a lot....Tacso-A

How many eggs are you going to be turning? I have one with just the rotisserie motor and it works fine for just a few doz. I think my original one (the one in the blog) hold 7 1/2 and that is no problem. My new bator will hold 540 eggs and that is about 75 lbs and it was not enough for that amount of eggs. The little one might work with maybe 15 doz but not 45 doz.

 

[Jessshan8]

Just noticed yours says 39 something.... you know you can calibrate it? We just figured that one out today. Had ours set at 41.8 the first night to get to temp and the F4 was set to something like 4.1 so I set it to 0 and that fixed that. We are running it up to 37.8 because of the .3 temps swings. Hubby told me to order another one. I got 3 originally, I needed one for the new bator, 1 for a hatcher and a spare I though. Now I need 2 hatchers and to fix the OLD bator. So I will be ordering more in the next few days.

I set it at 39.7 due to temp correction I calibrated the thermometers that you can see on the shelf with the ice water method and them set them on the egg turner and monitored the temp and adjusted the thermostat so that the temp was maintained at 100 deg f. if you have the directions to calibrate it could you scan them and pm me with them i would greatly appreciate it.

 

[DMRippy]

I set it at 39.7 due to temp correction I calibrated the thermometers that you can see on the shelf with the ice water method and them set them on the egg turner and monitored the temp and adjusted the thermostat so that the temp was maintained at 100 deg f. if you have the directions to calibrate it could you scan them and pm me with them i would greatly appreciate it.

I don't think it really give you directions. 37.5 is 99.5 F. So if you are reading 100 that is 37.8 C so you are off 1.9 C. It works just like adjusting your temp. Go to F4 and see what it is set to. Whatever that is set to Lower it by 1.9 and hit the power button to save it. Your temp will adjust to the correct reading to be 100 deg in theory. You may have to tinker with it a bit to get it just right. Mine is set at 37.8 and will come back on at 37.4 or 37.5 since it has a swing of .3. I need to insulate mine more, I am afraid. Temps drop very quickly when the heat goes off. I need to find a pretty way to insulate it. I worked on it too hard to make it not look good now.

 

[Jessshan8]

I don't think it really give you directions. 37.5 is 99.5 F. So if you are reading 100 that is 37.8 C so you are off 1.9 C. It works just like adjusting your temp. Go to F4 and see what it is set to. Whatever that is set to Lower it by 1.9 and hit the power button to save it. Your temp will adjust to the correct reading to be 100 deg in theory. You may have to tinker with it a bit to get it just right. Mine is set at 37.8 and will come back on at 37.4 or 37.5 since it has a swing of .3. I need to insulate mine more, I am afraid. Temps drop very quickly when the heat goes off. I need to find a pretty way to insulate it. I worked on it too hard to make it not look good now.

thanks for the info I have eggs in it right now due to hatch on the 8th will try to set in when there hatched. just don't want to take chances with my hatch