incubator ideas! post your ideas for home made incubators, whether they work or not~

Wow! Nobody has been on or nobody wants to help?

I'll share my progress anyway... first, the inside: At the back, you see the drainage hole which will have the wiring run to the outside. At the front, top and center is a ventilation hole. Same thing left of the light bulb at the front. Then next to the light bulb is my fan directly in front of the recirculation vent.

As we speak, I have contracted a small piece of metal to run from the turner to both egg trays... I really hope this will work. For "mounting" the turner, I bought a blue plastic outlet box from the hardware store and cut it in half, length-wise. It made a great bracket. I had to cut a little away so the motor could be mounted correctly. I will get a close up shot or two of that if anybody wants it. My shelves are cut from flourescent light covers. The sheets are about 24x48 inches and a little less that 1/2" thick. The provide for great circulation and are strong enough to hold what will go onto them. To be sure though, I put screws underneath on the outside edge as well as one in the back to act as a shelf support. My two egg turner trays... I cut each of the pegs so that I could turn that part around to save space. This is a tight fit. I'm sure though, that it has enough room to do its job. I'll get close ups of that too if anyone needs clarity.

There is room down below for two large hatching baskets plus a smaller one on the very bottom. At the very bottom, you can see the air intake that I have put a filter into to catch dust. I can provide close ups of that as well.


Edited to add: Look at the picture above. On the very bottom, I have drilled 16 1/4" holes for the carbon dioxide to exit, or is it carbon monoxide... whatever... they are there and hopefully, I won't have any issues regarding poisonous gases being given off and building up from the eggs themselves.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program:

Through the door: I originally had my control center mounted in the center but there was too much insulation around it and so I moved it over. Now I need to plug the original hole and cover it up the best I can. Hopefully, I have a piece of the plastic from the big cut out center left to fill it with.

I cut strips from the big cut out piece to frame, support and secure the plexiglass to the outside. The sheet of plexiglass on the inside is secured with aluminum tape.



Recirculation Vent: I only had 1-1/2" of space along-side the cooler inside the cabinet so I used 1x2 furring strips to form my vent. I used two layers of blue foam from a cheapy exercise mat to insulate the vent. Then I covered it with aluminum flashing. I would have preferred a flatter edge but I couldn't do that without adding more and I just don't think I have the room for another layer of anything on there. It looks pretty lumpy but it is air tight. I will be putting some aluminum tape over the wood and over the edge as well to be sure no air leaks. There is a ventilation hole there at the top and bottom too. I cut 3/4" diameter holes and cut grey pipe to length. I caulked the edges inside and out with a silicone caulk that is mold proof. On the outside of the vents I have pieces of plastic canvas. I cannot tell you how many spiders I have had to remove from my incubators even though the holes on the outside are small. Hopefully the holes in the plastic canvas will keep them out. Hopefully, these vents will be sufficient. If not, I can cut more. It's a major pain in my backside as I have no drill for this and have to do it by hand. I also have to cut the grey pipe by hand and smooth the edges with a file. If I need more, somebody please say so and I'll get it done.


And my well protected Control Panel: at the bottom of a cup holder. It gets good air circulation as there is no insulation around it on the inside. I had to use two washers on the bolts as I couldn't find bolts the correct width and have them be the correct length too so ... old washers I had on hand.


I have the wood addition on the cabinet sanded and stained and it looks pretty good. With exception to the black screw heads, you can almost not tell that anything was added... it's ok though, I don't mind the way it looks. I'll get a picture of it soon. Right now it's outside covered in plastic to protect it from the rain we got last week.
 
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my skills only go as far as small box incubators.

Made this one 3 weeks ago and just got my first batch from it
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4+ 2 more pipped but not hatched. NN/frizzles
 
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Lacy, I'm impressed with your work. You're inspiring me to at least think about getting started on my fridgabator. The cold weather is a definite deal breaker. I have no desire to go outside and work on it when the temp rarely gets over 10 degrees. I'm toying with putting my heat source in the middle, hatching tray under, and 1 - 2 incubation trays above. Any one out there tried this set up? I'd love to hear what has worked for everybody: Size of bator, location of heat source in relation to bator space, thermostat, and what was used for heat source. Also, how much ventilation?
 
Wow! Nobody has been on or nobody wants to help?

I'll share my progress anyway... first, the inside: At the back, you see the drainage hole which will have the wiring run to the outside. At the front, top and center is a ventilation hole. Same thing left of the light bulb at the front. Then next to the light bulb is my fan directly in front of the recirculation vent.

As we speak, I have contracted a small piece of metal to run from the turner to both egg trays... I really hope this will work. For "mounting" the turner, I bought a blue plastic outlet box from the hardware store and cut it in half, length-wise. It made a great bracket. I had to cut a little away so the motor could be mounted correctly. I will get a close up shot or two of that if anybody wants it. My shelves are cut from flourescent light covers. The sheets are about 24x48 inches and a little less that 1/2" thick. The provide for great circulation and are strong enough to hold what will go onto them. To be sure though, I put screws underneath on the outside edge as well as one in the back to act as a shelf support. My two egg turner trays... I cut each of the pegs so that I could turn that part around to save space. This is a tight fit. I'm sure though, that it has enough room to do its job. I'll get close ups of that too if anyone needs clarity.

There is room down below for two large hatching baskets plus a smaller one on the very bottom. At the very bottom, you can see the air intake that I have put a filter into to catch dust. I can provide close ups of that as well.


Edited to add: Look at the picture above. On the very bottom, I have drilled 16 1/4" holes for the carbon dioxide to exit, or is it carbon monoxide... whatever... they are there and hopefully, I won't have any issues regarding poisonous gases being given off and building up from the eggs themselves.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program:

Through the door: I originally had my control center mounted in the center but there was too much insulation around it and so I moved it over. Now I need to plug the original hole and cover it up the best I can. Hopefully, I have a piece of the plastic from the big cut out center left to fill it with.

I cut strips from the big cut out piece to frame, support and secure the plexiglass to the outside. The sheet of plexiglass on the inside is secured with aluminum tape.



Recirculation Vent: I only had 1-1/2" of space along-side the cooler inside the cabinet so I used 1x2 furring strips to form my vent. I used two layers of blue foam from a cheapy exercise mat to insulate the vent. Then I covered it with aluminum flashing. I would have preferred a flatter edge but I couldn't do that without adding more and I just don't think I have the room for another layer of anything on there. It looks pretty lumpy but it is air tight. I will be putting some aluminum tape over the wood and over the edge as well to be sure no air leaks. There is a ventilation hole there at the top and bottom too. I cut 3/4" diameter holes and cut grey pipe to length. I caulked the edges inside and out with a silicone caulk that is mold proof. On the outside of the vents I have pieces of plastic canvas. I cannot tell you how many spiders I have had to remove from my incubators even though the holes on the outside are small. Hopefully the holes in the plastic canvas will keep them out. Hopefully, these vents will be sufficient. If not, I can cut more. It's a major pain in my backside as I have no drill for this and have to do it by hand. I also have to cut the grey pipe by hand and smooth the edges with a file. If I need more, somebody please say so and I'll get it done.


And my well protected Control Panel: at the bottom of a cup holder. It gets good air circulation as there is no insulation around it on the inside. I had to use two washers on the bolts as I couldn't find bolts the correct width and have them be the correct length too so ... old washers I had on hand.


I have the wood addition on the cabinet sanded and stained and it looks pretty good. With exception to the black screw heads, you can almost not tell that anything was added... it's ok though, I don't mind the way it looks. I'll get a picture of it soon. Right now it's outside covered in plastic to protect it from the rain we got last week.
Awesome work so far!I noticed the hatching trays on the bottom. have you considered dividing it in half and use the bottom portion as a hatcher thus allowing increased humidity?
 
From what I understand, I can use it as both an incubator and a hatcher. Normally, you incubate at 50% and hatch at 65% humidity. I find that these percentages drown a lot of my chicks. Last year I tried incubating at 35% and hatching at 50% and had unprecedented great results. I have spoken with others that use the same space for incubation/hatching and live in an area very similar to my own who keep their humidity at or around 45-48% throughout and get good hatches. I may be slightly off on those numbers. I will have to check my correspondence. The first chick to hatch will raise the humidity for those who follow.

I screwed up my control panel. So I ordered another one. It should be here before next weekend and I will try again. In the meantime, I will start collecting eggs from my mixed breed flock to try it out when we get it all hooked up again. Also, this week, I need to get the boards sanded and stained that will be the door to my cabinet.
 
A very small skill saw with a 4" blade but I cannot recommend that method.

The covers are very brittle and very easy to break with pliers. I have decided that I will make further cuts with a pair of needle nosed pliers. Mark the size you want it to be and then go along your line (I used a marker) with pliers and gently bend it where you want it to break. I think you'll be much happier with the results than what I have for my shelf edges. The pictures don't show it but many of the pieces along the side are completely missing because of the force of the saw and the brittleness of the cover.

Probably what I will do is use two pairs of those pliers. One to hold the part I don't want to break and the other to wiggle it. A fine file can clean up any uneven edges rather quickly.
 

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