Tall Homemade Cabinet Style Incubator Heat/Fan Question

[bigdawg]

Quote:
very nice job. i am using 3/4 birch cabinet grade plywood and planing on having 5 gqf turners. at lock down i will take the turners out and slide hatching treys in there place. unless i build a a hatcher. good luck to everyone with building and hatching

 

[matte]

Being a homemade wooden incubator of these dimensions, maybe you should look at the design of the old Leahy Favorite models. I recently purchased a 624 (deeper, but of similar height and width.) I haven't hatched with it yet, but know these have a a great reputation. The diagrams can be found with a google search. The only heating unit is on the bottom. The fan is on the front wall at the very top (above the top tray) blowing towards the rear. On the very bottom of the back wall there is a "scoop" of bent metal which directs the air coming down frontwards and over the heating coils (and water pan which sits right above the heating coil, but below the bottom tray). The thermostats are mounted on the ceiling of the unit.

 

[Strader]

your drawing shows Hatcher below egg trays? what is Hatcher for? do chicks end up ther after getting out of shell. I'm a newbie so im sure this is a dumb question. thanks

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

You move the eggs to the hatching tray out of the turners for the last 3 days an they hatch there.

 

[Strader]

Sounds good. do you need more hatcher trays if you have like 6 egg trays? doesnt seem like much room on the hatch tray? and when I move the eggs in the last 3 days it must not matter that I open the door to do this? thanks

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
if the hatching tray is on the bottom of the bator the chicks will not fall from the egg trays it would be best to time your hatches so you open the door at day 18 then fill check the water reservoir and then leave it alone / closed for the duration of the hatch (lockdown)

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I was a bit concerned about chicks climbing over the stop of the hatching trays in my wine-cooler hatcher seen below. But so far...no casualties. If necessary, I could add a small piece of 1/4 in hardware cloth at the top front.

I cannot say how happy I am with this hatcher. It holds temp and humidity in all the trays equally and I've had some great hatches in it.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I finally built my cabinet bator but I'm having trouble getting the heat stabilized. I'm constantly having a 15 degree variance between the top and bottom shelves. If anyone cares to offer suggestions, here is the link to my thread.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=505994