Before I ever had the opportunity to raise chickens, I lived out my dreams through my father, who had a small flock that free ranged on his 2 acres of country land. We lived in a small apartment in the married student housing section of my husbands University campus. We had two small boys ages 3 & 1 and very little extra money. I wanted to hatch eggs though, and so uglybator was born!
Scavenging is a big part of doing things on a shoestring budget and scavenge we did! We found the cooler in the trash, the breadboard, wires, and arduino were leftovers from my spouses electrical engineering class, the phone charger we found at a thrift store ($.25), the lightsocket/cord were from a (nasty!) lamp we found in trash, ductape and computer fan we already had lying around, cardboard box was from Aldi's, clear plastic window was the lid from a salad container, thermometer we got at walmart ($10, ironically I took it back because it wasn't up to the task! lol), and the thermostat was some cheap-o thing we direct ordered from China ($2) for the arduino, wire nuts were donated by my dad, who also lent us an exacto knife and drill. The wires were just poked into the breadboard and arduino or taped together in places. If you bumped the box wrong, it would disconnect something....it was a fire hazard hott mess express!!! BUT, it worked!
Original Uglybator. Cardboard box, salad lid and all!
This was the hot mess express wiring. See all that ducktape?!? Yeah...we did that.
Wire upgrade! Thank goodness! It's much safer now. Still using arduino and Chinese thermostat. Kids got into the paint while I was redoing some furniture, so Uglybaor just got a little uglier.
Here was the original inside setup. We had the lightbulb, fan, and thermostat all on the far side at the time. That lightbulb terrifies me in this picture!
At some point I upgraded the window using a picture frames glass we got at a thrift store.
See all the fluffy chicks hatching under that wonderful glass window? <3
After graduating and moving into our own home, as well as working a "real" job, we upgraded from the easily knocked loose arduino setup (we never adhered it to make it permanent) to a wafer thermostat ($30). I also drilled a hole and repositioned the lightbulb, found a bigger computer fan and properly attached it with screws, added a aluminum foil "reflector shield", and cut up a pool noodle I found and stuffed it in the lid gaps.
The wiring was MUCH more simple with the wafer thermostat!
I borrowed uglybator out to a friend and the old glass top was broken (kids! gotta love them!), so I took the opertunity to spruce him up!
Window expanded and new glass attached, this time with silicon! White ductape covers the lid gap holes and ugly top.
A new silver backing has been put around the light bulb with silicon, replacing the old aluminum foil and hello kitty ductape.
I also neatened up the wiring in the back, cutting off the excess wiring so nothing hung loose and wrapped the split sections of cord with... twisty-ties. (bahahahaha! Some things never change!) Overall I like how clean the look is now.
Uglybator has evolved over the years, but still remains at heart a wonderful example of resourcefulness, hope, and a good solid incubator!
Scavenging is a big part of doing things on a shoestring budget and scavenge we did! We found the cooler in the trash, the breadboard, wires, and arduino were leftovers from my spouses electrical engineering class, the phone charger we found at a thrift store ($.25), the lightsocket/cord were from a (nasty!) lamp we found in trash, ductape and computer fan we already had lying around, cardboard box was from Aldi's, clear plastic window was the lid from a salad container, thermometer we got at walmart ($10, ironically I took it back because it wasn't up to the task! lol), and the thermostat was some cheap-o thing we direct ordered from China ($2) for the arduino, wire nuts were donated by my dad, who also lent us an exacto knife and drill. The wires were just poked into the breadboard and arduino or taped together in places. If you bumped the box wrong, it would disconnect something....it was a fire hazard hott mess express!!! BUT, it worked!
Original Uglybator. Cardboard box, salad lid and all!
This was the hot mess express wiring. See all that ducktape?!? Yeah...we did that.
Wire upgrade! Thank goodness! It's much safer now. Still using arduino and Chinese thermostat. Kids got into the paint while I was redoing some furniture, so Uglybaor just got a little uglier.
Here was the original inside setup. We had the lightbulb, fan, and thermostat all on the far side at the time. That lightbulb terrifies me in this picture!
At some point I upgraded the window using a picture frames glass we got at a thrift store.
See all the fluffy chicks hatching under that wonderful glass window? <3
After graduating and moving into our own home, as well as working a "real" job, we upgraded from the easily knocked loose arduino setup (we never adhered it to make it permanent) to a wafer thermostat ($30). I also drilled a hole and repositioned the lightbulb, found a bigger computer fan and properly attached it with screws, added a aluminum foil "reflector shield", and cut up a pool noodle I found and stuffed it in the lid gaps.
The wiring was MUCH more simple with the wafer thermostat!
I borrowed uglybator out to a friend and the old glass top was broken (kids! gotta love them!), so I took the opertunity to spruce him up!
Window expanded and new glass attached, this time with silicon! White ductape covers the lid gap holes and ugly top.
A new silver backing has been put around the light bulb with silicon, replacing the old aluminum foil and hello kitty ductape.
I also neatened up the wiring in the back, cutting off the excess wiring so nothing hung loose and wrapped the split sections of cord with... twisty-ties. (bahahahaha! Some things never change!) Overall I like how clean the look is now.
Uglybator has evolved over the years, but still remains at heart a wonderful example of resourcefulness, hope, and a good solid incubator!
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