Do-it-yourself incubator at home

How to build an incubator with your own hands - step by step instructions

An incubator is an essential tool for a farmer with both large and small farms. Modern devices are very expensive, since farm owners need to create units that can be made with their own hands.

Making an incubator with your own hands at home will not be difficult, and you can choose a simple device that does not require a huge number of materials, so it will not hit the budget.

The main differences will lie in the number of eggs in the tray, the level of control automation and the dimensions of the device. Household appliances are designed to hatch chicks in an incubator in numbers from 25-50 chicks, another up to 1000, and industrial devices are designed to provide the required climate for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of eggs.

General

Process incubators for chicks are equipped with automatic humidity and temperature controllers, ventilation system, turntables, egg sensors and gas analyzers. Sizes start at the level of boxes of household appliances, and end with rooms the size of a two-story house.

Varieties

Devices can be divided into the following types:

• Industrial.
• Farming.
• Domestic use.

Do it yourself

First, you need to determine the place, and then the dimensions for the future product. For this, it is important to consider the basic design of a home egg incubator. It will look like a box that contains the following components:

• At the bottom there is a vessel with water that will regulate the degree of humidity.
• The egg tray is attached at a distance of 0. 15 meters from the bottom.

• Sensors need to be placed in the middle.
• A heat source, which can be an accumulation lamp or a heating circuit, is attached at a distance of 0.2-0. 35 meters from the eggs under the upper tier.
• Cut holes in the cover and bottom to create ventilation.

This is far from the only method of building a homemade incubator. The heat source can be located anywhere, or even completely removed to an additional chamber. Next, it is important to draw up a drawing.

Process details

Incubation of artificial type

During the incubation period, all rules of procedure must be followed. All non-compliance with strict conditions will cause the death of the embryo.

An increase in temperature by even a couple of degrees can kill the embryo. Excessive airing will begin to dry out the shell, which, when hardened, begins to interfere with hatching. Duck eggs, as well as from geese and quails, have certain incubation conditions.

Advantages and disadvantages

The first advantage is the ability to assemble a tool of a productive size, which is designed for the number of eggs from several tens to thousands. The second plus can be called the fact that its creation can be much more profitable if the shed contains such things as regulators, sensors and various building materials.

The manufacture will require a lot of consumables (rails, heaters, screws, sealants, tubes, washers, bolts and cables). For this reason, the final cost can skyrocket to a purchased product. For example, the price of incubators for hatching chickens, which are designed for the number of eggs from 2 to 80 pieces, will cost approximately 1900-2250 rubles. A hand-made device needs improvement - how to find the correct position of the fans and lamps so that the space is heated evenly, find out the amount of water in the bathroom in order to maintain a strictly deduced humidity rate, and ventilation should not lead to uncontrolled temperature jumps. Calibrating a homemade incubator can be time consuming.

The last drawback is the appearance of fires. In a handicraft way, hastily made devices can malfunction, and this constantly becomes the cause of fire. For this reason, hatch chicks with care.

What incubators to make at home

You can build an incubator with your own hands at home using different methods. The network most often has descriptions for such homemade egg products:

• Cardboard.

• Plywood or wood.
• Foam.
• From an old refrigerator.

Whichever incubator is chosen for manufacturing, there are problems that are important to familiarize yourself with in advance:

1. Small holes will not provide sufficient ventilation, but can no longer keep moisture levels and lead to temperature fluctuations. You need to find your own balance for a specific device, and adjustable holes can help with this.

2. A low temperature level can be corrected by insulation rather than adding heating elements.
3. Humidity will be blown out into crevices much sooner than warmth. Sealing is the correct way to preserve it.
4. Adequate ventilation is required to avoid choking eggs.
5. Incorrect placement of elements - the heater closest to the tray or installation of an insufficient number for uniform heating of the entire volume, which is why the temperatures differ in different parts of the modes, and the air flows that blow on the eggs and dry them out; incorrect setting of heat sensors, as well as humidity regulators.

6. Hygiene of the space inside.

Next, we will consider three types of home incubators.

From cardboard

So, consider the device of an ordinary box incubator, which is designed for a hundred eggs. This is the cheapest and easiest option. The list of materials is as follows:

• Screws, boards, other consumables.

• Moisture detector.
• Temperature sensor.
• Voltage regulator.
• Fan at low speed.
• 2 to 3 meters of electrical cable.

• 4 rounds.
• 4 incandescent lamps with a power of 40 W.
• Any cardboard box from the refrigerator and TV (you need to cut it in half), approximate size 0.5 * 0. 5 * 0.

  5 meters.

P step-by-step instructions:

1. Case - the outside of the box needs to be pasted over to retain heat and humidity. The cover needs to be sealed with expanded polystyrene. For ventilation, it is required to make 5 holes symmetrical about the central part of the cover with a size of about 2 cm.
2. Lower part - lamps must be placed on the bottom, which are connected in parallel, so that the combustion of one does not turn off the rest.

   A fan is installed there, which will act as a mixer, which distributes the heated air evenly. For this reason, the rotational speed should be low, that is, less than a thousand revolutions, and the blades must be of a straight type. It is also required to put containers with water and a humidity measuring device at the bottom, make four 2 cm holes in the bottom to suck in fresh air.

3. Middle part. To make an incubator for eggs with your own hands, at a height of 0.

   25 meters, you need to put a tray. Holders can be made like slats. Which are glued along the contour of the box, and support beams in the corners. On the side of the box, you can make a door to change the water and turn the eggs with your own hands, and here, in the area of ​​the tray, moisture and temperature sensors are carried out.

4. Incubator Tray - knocked together from slats to fit the box so that it fits exactly to the edges and is tightened with a fine mesh that prevents chicks from falling inward after pouring.

   They are small, will easily crawl into gaps or crevices, and at the bottom of the bathtub with water.

5. Swivel mechanism - any system can be used, and the budget option would be to do everything manually. It is also possible to make a roller mechanism in order to stretch the nets under the eggs or inclined on the central axis (it will be necessary to redo the tray and the mount inside the case). Another interesting turning method would be a wire mesh construction, sized to fit the tray, but with one side reduced. This will create a power reserve that allows you to turn the eggs by moving the net.

6. Electrics - in order to control the heat, which is associated with temperature sensors, which hangs in the center above the tray and lamps. And the incubator itself is installed on a platform that gives a gap with the floor so that clean air can get inside without obstacles.

The device is quite simple, and the non-fixed position of the elements from the bottom makes it possible to finely adjust the heat distribution over the box volume. The disadvantage of a cardboard incubator will be rapid heat loss while the heaters are turned off.One should not forget about the cost, because from scratch even cardboard options will cost 1400 rubles.

From foam

Expanded polystyrene incubators combine practicality, convenience and a reasonable price. For this reason, they are most often used by farmers. Consider creating an example of an incubator, which is designed for about 15 chicken eggs. The list of materials is as follows:

• Thermal foam container with a volume of 10 liters and a wall thickness of 3 cm.
• Lamps and 40W socket.

• Hygrometer with sensor.
• Thermal regulator.
• PC power supply.
• The estimated price is 1500 rubles.

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Body - if you need an incubator of a non-standard size, it can be glued from foam sheets.

   A good adhesive, sealant or screws with washers are used. That being said, it is important to learn the techniques of folding the boxes in order to end up with a strong insulated container.

2. Bottom part - a fan with a filament cartridge is placed in the tube. Someone thinks that direct rays of light can harm the hatching eggs, and therefore shield them with metal, which perfectly conducts heat. The heating structure will be attached at the bottom to the side of the container with large washers and bolts, and the cable will be led out through a small hole in the wall.

   A bathtub with water will also be installed.

3. A hole must be made in the wall under the pipe, which will be covered with a cable plug or bottle neck, so that the fresh air supply can be regulated.
4. Middle part - inside the box, wood strips are glued along the contour, which will be a support for the tray.
5. Tray - must be made of a rigid base, a fine mesh is placed on top of it, which easily allows air to pass through. After that, the ends of the sensors are brought to approximately the middle of the tray.

6. Upper part - a viewing square window is made in the lid, into which organic glass will be glued, and a couple of small holes are drilled for ventilation.
7. Electrical - at the end you can make a control panel, stretch all the cables in a convenient way, cut or wind them, connect the elements and display the sensor screens.

The main disadvantage of such an incubator is that the pores of the material begin to clog with dirt, and therefore bacteria can multiply on its surface. It is almost impossible to wash off the dirt. For this reason, with each further incubation, the hatching process may decrease, and the risk of infection of the chicks will increase.

From the refrigerator

You can make an incubator with your own hands at home from the refrigerator. Working with such a material requires more skill than foam or cardboard, as well as construction tools. The body makes it possible to design different types of incubators.Two-chamber (the heating of cool air will occur in the freezing compartment and enters the main one), with timers, automatic trays, PC control, and more.

There is no point in making a small device for 150 eggs when this device can be made from plywood or foam.

Refrigerators can be used for 1000-2000 eggs with automated parameter control. This device will be much more expensive.

For this reason, a person who is not engaged in the manufacture of incubators, it will be safer to purchase a ready-made version of the farm type or make it to order. Take a look at an example of a 1300 egg incubator.

Above is a panel with built-in sensor displays, buttons and a fully automated system for monitoring the environment inside.

For example, it can urgently release heat or humidity when exceeded. An incubator needs 300 to 600 watts to operate. There are two fans inside for air circulation. On the bottom right, there are blowdown valves that facilitate emergency regulation. There are also symmetrically located baths with water, and there are two of them, because humid air is heavier than usual and it tries to settle.

Conclusion

Incubators help to bypass the difficult natural incubation of eggs - to monitor the health of chickens, the size of clutches, the season. To hatch chicks, strictly observed conditions of heat, ventilation and humidity are required.