Long story short, about a week ago, during a brief spell of cold and snow in western MI, I found an egg floating in a nearby pond/lagoon. It was quite large and I figured it was from a Canadian Goose or a Mute Swan, both of which reside in the area. After some research, I am still unsure of which fowl the egg belongs to, but I did find information about the viability of eggs after being exposed to cold weather. I decided I would try my hand at incubation and hatching.
I went the styrofoam incubator route as purpose designed incubators tend to be very expensive, as I found out. The current setup is a single 25W standard incandescent bulb controlled by a water heater lower thermostat, a small 4" fan, and a tupperware bowl with a sponge. The egg is in another tupperware bowl and rests on a very comfortable bed of microfiber towels. It is being flipped 3-4 times a day.
For temperature measurement I am using two "instant read" analog food thermometers. They are able to be calibrated, which is why I chose them. Humidity may as well not even be considered measured at this point because the digital temp/humidity gauge I have is a cheap piece of crap.
It is currently day 6 of incubation, and I candled the egg yesterday. It's definitely fertile and appears to be just a day or two before the embryo/membrane begin to form.
After seeing how large cygnets and goslings actually are when they hatch, I am led to believe that the styrofoam cooler is going to be of inadequate size. Provided that embryonic development continues to follow a normal trajectory, my plan is to get a larger plastic cooler and outfit it with more advanced means of temperature and humidity regulation. I am an automation technician by trade and am considering industrial style controls to maintain an ideal environment.
I do have a few questions for those with advanced technical knowledge of commercial incubators and their control systems.
1. What is the means of temperature regulation? I am looking at PID temperature controllers in order to avoid overshooting, or undershooting the set temp. The issue that I'm seeing is that even with class-A RTD sensors, the temperature controller accuracy is typically +/- 1° C/F or as much as 0.5% of full sensor range which equals out to ~3.5° on some units. Everything I am seeing tells me that I want to stay within a +/- 0.5° range of the set temperature, however I have not found anything that would allow for that level of accuracy without spending thousands of dollars. I have a hard time believing the typical $300-400 incubators are maintaining temps within that window.
2. I understand it is not as essential to be completely accurate with humidity control, but none the less I would like to set up an automated system to maintain the humidity. The main reason for this is during the lockdown, I work 12 hour shifts and will need extended protection against excessive drying. The issue I am seeing here is that all of the humidity sensors I can find seem to be in the $200+ range which I am certainly not paying, at that rate I would buy an actual incubator. The exception to this is the dual temp/humidity sensor from Auber, which uses a 4 pin screw type connection. I do not know what signal it outputs, or how it is wired so I don't know if it is able to be used as input to a process controller.
Any input would be appreciated, I will also move this to a different section of the forum if the questions here would be better answered somewhere else!
I went the styrofoam incubator route as purpose designed incubators tend to be very expensive, as I found out. The current setup is a single 25W standard incandescent bulb controlled by a water heater lower thermostat, a small 4" fan, and a tupperware bowl with a sponge. The egg is in another tupperware bowl and rests on a very comfortable bed of microfiber towels. It is being flipped 3-4 times a day.
For temperature measurement I am using two "instant read" analog food thermometers. They are able to be calibrated, which is why I chose them. Humidity may as well not even be considered measured at this point because the digital temp/humidity gauge I have is a cheap piece of crap.
It is currently day 6 of incubation, and I candled the egg yesterday. It's definitely fertile and appears to be just a day or two before the embryo/membrane begin to form.
After seeing how large cygnets and goslings actually are when they hatch, I am led to believe that the styrofoam cooler is going to be of inadequate size. Provided that embryonic development continues to follow a normal trajectory, my plan is to get a larger plastic cooler and outfit it with more advanced means of temperature and humidity regulation. I am an automation technician by trade and am considering industrial style controls to maintain an ideal environment.
I do have a few questions for those with advanced technical knowledge of commercial incubators and their control systems.
1. What is the means of temperature regulation? I am looking at PID temperature controllers in order to avoid overshooting, or undershooting the set temp. The issue that I'm seeing is that even with class-A RTD sensors, the temperature controller accuracy is typically +/- 1° C/F or as much as 0.5% of full sensor range which equals out to ~3.5° on some units. Everything I am seeing tells me that I want to stay within a +/- 0.5° range of the set temperature, however I have not found anything that would allow for that level of accuracy without spending thousands of dollars. I have a hard time believing the typical $300-400 incubators are maintaining temps within that window.
2. I understand it is not as essential to be completely accurate with humidity control, but none the less I would like to set up an automated system to maintain the humidity. The main reason for this is during the lockdown, I work 12 hour shifts and will need extended protection against excessive drying. The issue I am seeing here is that all of the humidity sensors I can find seem to be in the $200+ range which I am certainly not paying, at that rate I would buy an actual incubator. The exception to this is the dual temp/humidity sensor from Auber, which uses a 4 pin screw type connection. I do not know what signal it outputs, or how it is wired so I don't know if it is able to be used as input to a process controller.
Any input would be appreciated, I will also move this to a different section of the forum if the questions here would be better answered somewhere else!
Interesting info. Tbh I’d be inclined to use the weight loss method during incubation and then for lockdown just make sure there’s plenty of water in the reservoir 
No cost that way 
Welcome 
We are glad you joined this flock!
