The Old Folks Home

[Latestarter]

MMMMmmmmmmm bacon

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I have eggs due to hatch at noon.
I moved 11 to the hatcher yesterday afternoon, that's cutting it close. I checked on them a couple hours ago and nothing. Just checked again and there's a pip.

I have 5 more due in 6 days and 6 hours. Hopefully I can get these out, take the cabinet apart, replace the fans with more powerful ones and replace one of the temp controllers with a supposedly more reliable one and put it back together in time for the 5 eggs next week.

The incubator cabinet sits inside the larger hatcher cabinet. There is air space left, right, top and bottom around the incubator.I have a bank of 4 fans on the left side of the cabinet Just above the hatching area on the bottom. They draw air across the eggs, up past the primary heat element, then across a water pan with sponges that stays filled with a gallon wine bottle inverted over it, then down past the secondary heat element, past another sponge filled water container that I top off via another funnel on top of the cabinet. and then back across the eggs.
This setup keeps the bulk of the humid air in the hatcher even after opening the door several times.
When I first built it, I used the cheapest computer fans I could find. The dust from hatching overwhelmed them. After about 5 hatches, 2 of the fans were dead, one was barely turning and only 1 was working. I replaced the 2 dead ones with 2 more cheap ones as a temporary fix.
I bought the most powerful 80mm fans I could find. They're double ball bearing Vantec Tornado case fans at 10.8 watt and 5800 RPM rated for 81.5 CFM each and low noise 52 dBA. Boowaah!!! It should take a while before the dust kills them. I'm also adding foam filters that I can clean a couple times a year.

I've had parts for a while but just haven't gotten around to it. The thing is a behemoth at about 150 pounds or more and I have to dedicate a few hours that I don't usually have to the project. I have to open the door that hinges on the hatcher cabinet, install handles on the incubator cabinet and slide it out, set it aside and then have access to all the wiring and electric parts.

This coming week I should have all the parts to install a circulated heated water system for the breeder complex.
Did I say I hate carrying water several times a day during winter?
If this prototype works, the same system will go on all the buildings and then I'll only have to fill water tanks about every 3 months.
There will be some electric cost but the time it will free up will be worth it.

 

[getaclue]

SCG, bacon is best fried crisp, NOT chewy! Of course, all bacon is good, so if that's the only way you can get it, then eat it anyway. Yeah, I know this is going to start something, because there will be a few that prefer their bacon chewy. Never trust anyone that prefers chewy bacon!

 

[hennible]

Also never trust a skinny chef

 

[ChickenCanoe]

OK. Ill bite. I hate crispy bacon. There's a fine and tasty line between cooked to a crisp and rare.

Also, not all bacon was created equal. Real smoked bacon, the kind that takes months to cure is real bacon that can't be found at the grocery store.

 

[hennible]

Our health food store has that stuff... yummy

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It has had me considering building a smokehouse on more than one occasion. We had one when I was a kid.

 

[hennible]

I want one like this

 

[superchemicalgirl]

He cured it for a little over a week and then smoked it in our big green egg.

 

[chickadoodles]

I want one like this

I want a smoke house like that!