Making a wine cooler incubator

[Farmer Viola]

Definitely interested, please post them

 

[seventreesfarm]

Here is the last picture I took after loading up, but before adding the plastic 'baffles' today.



That lower shelf now is partially covered, maybe an inch around the sides and front open for airflow. Loading the turner really changed the air flow and caused a heat build up underneath until I blacked it some. That gets me through until lockdown, then I'll have to think hard...

This pic is peeking under the top of the cooler. I spliced the light in with the control panel. Had to carve out some foam, but it fits pretty well.


Then the back...controller wires, plus tubing for water and the 2nd fan controller. I'll probably get a nice little power strip and tuck it all on the metal shelf where the compressor used to be.


A part way done view...


And the top with the incukit set in.

 

[HatchCraft]

The incukit install looks good.I did not realize the air from the incukit fan blew out the sides as well as the front of the unit. I think covering the lower shelf like you did was your best option. I made a couple of incubators where I tried directing the air flow though trays of egg with the air return at top. Had the same problem . The air can't return fast enough. . You could remove the false back above the first shelf or cut a large slot in the back at each shelf height to increase the air flow rate. Won't look as nice. There may be a better solution. Good luck with the hatch.

 

[seventreesfarm]

The incukit install looks good.I did not realize the air from the incukit fan blew out the sides as well as the front of the unit. I think covering the lower shelf like you did was your best option. I made a couple of incubators where I tried directing the air flow though trays of egg with the air return at top. Had the same problem . The air can't return fast enough. . You could remove the false back above the first shelf or cut a large slot in the back at each shelf height to increase the air flow rate. Won't look as nice. There may be a better solution. Good luck with the hatch.

There is almost no airflow coming from the front (meaning the large flat side that would be facing downward if I had mounted it on the celing) of the incukit. I haven't looked too closely at the fan since installing it, but just holding my hand in front and on sides I can feel where the most air pushes.

As much as I prefer the thing at the bottom, I'll have to bow to the laws of physics and remount it on top. I'd rather do that than try to modify (i.e. cut more holes) the current set up. It's hold good temps now, but I know when I swap to hatch baskets etc it will change the airflow again and I'll have to spend more time tweaking. Hopefully fast enough to keep any eggs viable.

Oh well. It's a good learning experience, and it will be a sweet incubator.

 

[HatchCraft]

I have seen the incukits use in other incubator builds, but I guess I didn't really understand how they were constructed. I thought the fan blew air straight through the heating coils. From photos on the incukit website I see like you said, they have a solid plate on one face that defects the air flow. Interesting and simple design. At first glance I thought you had the fan kit mounted over an opening in the in the back wall of the cooler with a return air opening at the top using a hollow space as a return air duct.. My mistake. Experimenting is great fun.

 

[seventreesfarm]

The temps are really stable now. I moved the incukit sensor down just a teeny bit so it's inbetween the egg turner rails, but still above the shelf it's sitting on. Maybe 1/2 inch lower than before. That seems to keep it steady. I was worried that the eggs were getting too warm underneath, and this makes the heater cut off when it reads 99.5 at the sensor. The temp range on top of the eggs, middle of the turner, and shelf just below the turner averages 99.5-100.2 and humidity is about 32%. I'm trying dryer hatches and keeping an eye on air cells, but I can bump up humidity with a bigger pan & some sponges if need be.

I'm going to keep the lowest shelf and baffle as is for lockdown, and my hatch baskets will be on two higher shelves, made of wire mesh with plastic needlepoint canvas floors covered with paper towel. I think that will be good air flow still, but I don't know.

I have n't done a full candling yet (only on day 4) but so far almost all the eggs I checked are developing.

 

[seventreesfarm]

So the incubator is working great!
I have candled twice and pulled 10 eggs out of 41 that were unfertilized. The rest are developing like crazy. I've never seen such robust veining and wiggly embryos. The air cells look good too.

I kept playing around with baffle arrangements, fan speed, and incukit settings, and managed to get things stable for pretty much the whole incubator. Temps are even from top to bottom and front to back. I moved the egg turner shelf down a bit and added a top shelf with the hatch baskets I made. When I go to lock down the egg turner shelf will have hatch baskets on it too. I ordered a Brinsea Spot Check thermometer from Cutler Supply, and it's really helping me keep an eye on temps in different parts of the baskets. I'm pretty confident temps and humidity will be in the zone for lockdown.

I had planned to redo the heater locatio as soon as this hatch is over, but now I might just keep it as is. If it's performing well there's no sense mixing things up again

 

[seventreesfarm]

We had an 87% hatch rate. Three never pipped and one hatched but had to be culled. We assisted with one that pipped at the wrong end, but seemed otherwise lively, and it's doing fine now. The rest are running around the brooder coop like little maniacs.

I think after I clean up the incubator, I will do some more temp testing in all the nooks and crannies, now that I have the settings more figured out. If it still looks good, I will do another hatch with the current configuration. No sense ripping it apart if it does the job as is. It need adjunct lighting though. Maybe an LED puck light with remote, to light up the back middle. I ran through a lot of flashlight batteries checking the hatch basket there.

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

I just scored a nice sized wine cooler for $30 and I'm hoping to make a hatcher out of it. It's great to see that there are people who have had such great success. I have a GQF cabinet incubator but thought a styrofoam incubator would work fine for hatching but it seems like when I used the cabinet incubator for both incubating and hatching everything went well and when I used the styrofoam incubator for hatching I had an awful lot of chicks either die without pipping or pip and then die. I really cleaned the heck out of it so probably it is something to do with the temps and not cleanliness.