Incubators Anonymous

[ozexpat]

my new bator

180 chicken eggs per turner and 2 more shelves could fit if needed

 

[Flowerbh]

Well my broody hatched 5 of 8 eggs yesterday. She is a surrogate mom and is doing well. My silkie hatched 6 of 6 eggs and is a great mom. She gives her babies food from her mouth! And, today was lockdown for 27 eggs in my bator! Fun should start on Thursday! The thing I like about incubator chicks is that I don't feel guilty about selling the chicks. I don't have the heart to sell my broody's chicks right now! But I need to.....too many babies! The thing I like about a broody is she does everything! I don't even have to separate the babies from the rest of the flock. The mom does everything!

 

[DMRippy]

my new bator 180 chicken eggs per turner and 2 more shelves could fit if needed

Wow....i thought that was my mega bator for a minute. Good job!

 

[Zootopia]

my new bator 180 chicken eggs per turner and 2 more shelves could fit if needed

Hey looks good. Show us the "guts". I need ti get busy on a design. DHand DS have said they would build me one.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

2 days till lockdown (all look fertile)!

 

[ozexpat]

Hey looks good. Show us the "guts". I need ti get busy on a design. DHand DS have said they would build me one.

There is no guts per se. The beauty is the simplicity


STC-1000 220VAC thermostat (its built in the Philippines where 220V is standard current)
3 fans on the front side of right wall
3 fans on the rear side of left wall
2 x 300W halogen work lights

Turner is a frame with 2 see-saw trays attached with 6 inch nails as pins. The two trays are linked with a piece of lumber and pins. move one - move all.

Trays are 27x 38 inside diameter. Frame built around those dimensions

Cabinet built around turner dimensions as well as plywood being already 48 wide.

final dimensions
sides 36 x 48
rear 48 x 48
top 37.5x48

The lights are in the bottom to encourage heat circulation.

As ambient humidity is 88% and Air temp 88-92F, I use to mini dehumidifiers to reduce the humidity from in the 60s to low 40s during the non-lock-down period.

 

[gladahmae]

LOCKDOWN!

4 ameraucanas, 3 bbs maran, 6 OE, and 6 mutts. I had trouble seeing into the marans and couldn't see a thing in the OEs, so I'm not sure what to expect from those. I made a divider out of 1/4in hardware cloth so I can keep all my breeds straight and added some water, so humidity is now up to about 40%. I'm not adding any more unless chicks are getting stuck coming out. Keeping it low like that seemed to work better with the last 2 hatches, and hopefully this one will be the same. I'm hoping I have a pip by lunchtime tomorrow, even though technically hatch day isn't until Thursday afternoon.

DH agreed on ordering another set of eggs, so I have another 25 headed my way tomorrow. He said that this would be "it" for now, and he's already got a plan for converting some more of the shed side of the coop into coop space.

(He also said he's not building me any more coops......I'm hoping he means he's not building any more *this year*)

 

[DMRippy]

my new bator 180 chicken eggs per turner and 2 more shelves could fit if needed

Hey looks good. Show us the "guts". I need ti get busy on a design. DHand DS have said they would build me one.

I have very detailed pics of my mega bator in my siggy. I think the link to the mega bator is at the BOTTOM of the page. I pics of every step of the build. His is VERY similar to mine. Each of my trays hold 180 eggs and is very easy to turn by hand if needed. I used flex watt and a light. In the winter i used a food dehydrater and that worked great to boost the temp. I would add more insulation if i was to do it again.

 

[ozexpat]

I have very detailed pics of my mega bator in my siggy. I think the link to the mega bator is at the BOTTOM of the page. I pics of every step of the build. His is VERY similar to mine. Each of my trays hold 180 eggs and is very easy to turn by hand if needed. I used flex watt and a light. In the winter i used a food dehydrater and that worked great to boost the temp. I would add more insulation if i was to do it again.

indeed mine is very similar. I looked at many on this site (including that of DMRippy). Donna's must have stuck with me.

i use rolled foam insulation i have not seen in usa, its 3/4 thick with foil on each side. its very durable.

the temps in the Philippines are 78-92 all year around so it is plenty of insulation on 3/4 marine grade plywood.

I had another design in my head that included a second section in the rear where all the electronics would go and the fans forcing the air down the rear section but time was not on my side. I went with something simple but no cool or hot spots that I could set eggs in under 24 hours.

 

[gladahmae]

Well, we candled quickly last night, and while most of the eggs were very "full" looking, quite a few still had very visible veins up by the air cell. And now I'm nervous. This afternoon will be day 20, so I'm hoping to have some hatchlings starting tomorrow through Saturday. But those veins are making me doubt myself. My husband kept asking me, "are you SURE they're supposed to hatch this week?" Wonder if I have a bunch of day 14-16 quitters.