Incubator Plans

[rymanman]

Does anyone have plans for a plywood type incubator that will hold a few hundred quail eggs or if they could send me in the right direction! Thanks

[komer]

http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/plywood.htm

[Jake Levi]

Interesting thought.

I'd be tempted to study a Hova bator, and double it plus a little bit in measurements. Then put in 2  thermostats around the sides,  the turner might be more difficult then the rest. You can get special quail cups if you use a standard turner. For sure up to 2 fans at diagonals, and an adequate reservoir,  on a slideout tray in the bottom. On the top make it with a large glass window. Or plexiglass.

An interesting project. I'd start it in the fall rather then now.

Something to consider also, go to Home Depot and look at some of their unfinished cabinets, some of them could be made into 400 Quail egg incubators.  They might be easier to make then a tabletop 200 egg one. Would need coating the interior for moisture resistance.

Good luck.  It'll be interesting to see the responses.

[komer]

why not to use old fridge?and modificate it to incubator...
in my history of building incubators,u need to have excelent thermostat,air must circle around eggs,so in every place in incubator is same temperature...i have scheme from my microcontrolled thermostat,hex file,so if someone is want to build a thermostat,i can send him a files...
now is in project a temperature messurment with SHT75 sensor,i think it is most accurate temperature sensor(+/- 0.3°C),and also messure humidity...iam build one more incubator atm,and need to finish thermostat and need an egg trays that i ordered,thanks to Jim:)
basicly,i will use some cheap 12cm computer fans,that are rated @12v,maybe will use a 4 of them to be sure that air is mixed well..4 bulbs @ 100w,i will connect them in serial,2 by 2,to be sure if one gets off,that other 2 is working,that is total of 200w if i connect them in serial..maybe heating element,but here in croatia i cant find a low power heater,so bulbs are cheapest and i can say,only heating element that is good to use in incubators...only thing that iam concernd is a egg turner,just didnt find a good motor for that...

[bobhunter]

What you are contemplating sounds very interesting! Do you have a place like Home Depot in Croatia?

[komer]

we have place like home depot:)

[Jake Levi]

Years ago, around 1969 I lived in SW Mo, the local feed mill where I bought grain ahd a whole array of big cabinet incubators in its basement, these were big, about 30" wide and 6' tall, they were all heated by a light bulb, but they were tight enough taht the heat generated stayed inside, it had 4 or five trays, and a big one on the bottom for ahtching, it was designed for up to Goose and Turkey eggs. Turning was manually by a crank on the side, I used it for two years, Chicken and Geese eggs, and got excellent hatches. I left it behind when I moved as the buyer wanted it, wish I'd kept it.

So, light bulbs work, even on large units, and manual turners can be devised, this was fairly simple when I looked at the gears. Its mass worked towards stability.

[rymanman]

Thanks to all that replied!......Going to look into it more!

[Dave]

rymanman,

How goes the construction on the incubator?  Have you had any success with finding parts?  I'm looking to accomplish the same thing, I was hoping we could share information?

Dave

[komer]

update?
i cant post my answer and picture of thermostat?

[makesmiles]

In years past I have built a number of incubators.  I always used light bulbs and wafer thermostats.  They worked excellent.  The largest that I built held about 500 quail eggs in fiber trays.  The incubator had 5 tray levels (I think) and I turned them twice a day before and after work.  All I did for turning was to place a piece of wood under one end of the tray in the morning and move it to the other end in the evening.  It had a small fan mounted in the bottom(computer type...although we didn't have computers then) and the trays were made from 1/4" wire for air flow with about 3/4"x1" wooden side rails.  I allowed about 1" of space in the front and back of the trays also for airflow.  I used 1"x1" wood strips nailed to the sides to support the trays.  I used a bowl of water in the bottom for humidity (2 during hatching).  The light was in the back at the top and I placed a solid wooden shelf just under the light to separate it from the eggs in the incubator to prevent hot spots.  The shelf had 1" of space front and back to allow for airflow.  The wafer was in bottom.  The incubator was made from 3/4" plywood with a Plexiglas window in the front for viewing.  I moved the eggs out of the trays and onto the wire for hatching. I don't remember the exact dimensions but it was about 18x18x30...probably smaller.  I calculated the dimensions based on the size of the egg trays and how many eggs I wanted to incubate at one time.  Then added the space for all the accessories.  The egg trays were very close together.  My hatch rate was excellent and I have hatched many, many thousands of eggs in this incubator.

The cabinet idea from Home Depot/Lowe's sounds great.  Saves a lot of headaches.  I don't think the moisture will hurt it at 60%/70% humidity.  I live in Louisiana where 60% humidity makes our lips crack.  We are used to 70 to 90 and our furniture and cabinets do fine...however, we look like prunes at early ages.

Good luck.

David

[steve30947]

i have a set of plans. I'll try to find them this weekend for you. I'll scan them and email them to you. i built it but made a few changes to it. mine holds 600 quail eggs. the heating el and the elect thermo and be bought on-line. it has a elect turner that was tough to find. good luck. j45

[tim]

Hello, brand new here. Just looking around and found this incubator thread. I will try and post a link to one that I have built. I have built several and they worked very well.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb263/reedneeck/01010392.jpg

[Pheasant Hollow Farm]

Hello, brand new here. Just looking around and found this incubator thread. I will try and post a link to one that I have built. I have built several and they worked very well.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb263/reedneeck/01010392.jpg

Welcome aboard Tim!

Nice concept of using a cooler as an incubator, or is that the hatcher? Do you have an auto turner, or is it hand turning only.

Post some pictures of the inside of this. I would like to see the layout.

Again, aboard

The  Wagon spoke person,

Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm

[tim]

It was a incubator and yes it was a hand turner. I could put 24 chicken eggs in it.