Birds such as quail, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys. Such diversity became possible thanks to microcontroller automation.

Housing Materials:
- sheet chipboard or old furniture boards(like mine)
- laminate floor board
- perforated aluminum sheet
- two furniture awnings
- self-tapping screws

Tools:
- A circular saw
- Drill, drills, furniture drill (for awnings)
- screwdriver

Materials for automation:
- circuit board, soldering iron, radio components
- transformer for 220->12v
- DAN2N electric drive
- two 40W incandescent lamps
- 12v computer fan, medium size

Point 1. Manufacturing of the case.
With help circular saw from a sheet of laminated chipboard we cut blanks in accordance with the dimensions in Fig. one.

In the obtained blanks, in accordance with Fig. 2, drill holes D = 4 mm. for self-tapping screws, they are marked with red circles, green circles indicate the place of attachment of the cover canopies. We assemble the case in accordance with the scheme. We install the cover on two furniture hinges.

We drill rows of ventilation holes D = 5 mm. front and back, top and bottom.

As a result, a completely finished case for the incubator turned out, it does not need to be additionally insulated, the electronics do an excellent job of heating the box with just two light bulbs.

Item 2. Tray for eggs.

The main part of the tray is the base, an aluminum sheet with frequent holes for unhindered circulation of heated air. If not similar material, then you can make a bottom from any sheet material sufficient rigidity and drill a lot of holes in it D = 10 mm.

I made the sidewalls from a laminate, in which cuts are made to the middle in increments of 50 mm, a net for holding eggs is woven into them from garden twine, and at the end of the twine in the cuts, Titanium is glued with glue. It turns out a cell of 50x50 mm, the size of large duck eggs, so as not to make many different trays for different birds, so chicken eggs in some places have to be burst a little with foam bars. The capacity of this tray is 50 eggs. Goose eggs are laid in a checkerboard pattern, a twine mesh compresses the bookmark well.

For quails, a separate tray similar to this is made, but with a cell pitch of 30x30 mm, with a capacity of 150 eggs.

The capacity of the incubator does not end there, because there is also a second tier, a second tray, which, if necessary, is installed on top of the first tray.

In the photo: Attachment (V) for the top tray and metal bracket for attaching to the axis of the tilt mechanism.

This (V) shaped mount is located at both ends of the tray and is only needed if a second tray is planned. At the top additional tray, the same fastening is only directed downwards and enters with a wedge into " dovetail" lower tray.

Also in the photo you can see a metal eye for attaching the tray to the flag of the rotary mechanism.

In the photo: The flag of the rotary mechanism.

In the photo: The opposite side of the tray.

Here you can see (V) the fastening and hole of the support axis of the tray.

Point 3. Device for tilting the tray with eggs.
To rotate the axis with a flag, which in turn tilts the egg tray 45 degrees to one side and the other, I used the DAN2N electric drive used for ventilation pipes.

Pictured: A typical DAN2N application, opening and closing a pipe valve.

He is perfect for this job.

This drive works out a slow rotation of the axis by 90 degrees from one extreme point to another, and when it rests against the limiter of the angle of rotation, it goes into stop mode when the current in the motor is exceeded, until the control contact changes its state to the opposite.

To control the change of position on the control contact, any timer is suitable that will close and open the contact after a specified period of time. For this purpose, I found a French timer with adjustment from a fraction of a second to several days. But all these functions are already in our microcontroller control unit, therefore, to rotate the tray, it is enough for us to use any small motor with a gearbox, and the CU will take control of it.

Item 4. Control unit.
The control unit or the heart of the incubator, which determines whether you get chickens or not.

With the release of the popular Atmel microcontroller, many interesting projects, including simple and very reliable thermostats. So the March project from Radio magazine 2010 grew into a full-fledged complete incubator control module with all possible functionality. And this is: adjustment range 35.0С - 44.5С., indication and signaling in case of emergency, temperature control by a complex algorithm with a self-learning effect, auto turn tray, humidity control.

When the heating element is heated (in our case, incandescent lamps), the algorithm selects the heating power, due to which the temperature comes into balance and can be constant with an accuracy of 0.1g.

The emergency mode will help out if the output triacs are damaged, the control switches to an analog relay and, until the breakdown is eliminated, it will maintain the temperature in the acceptable range.

To control the rotation of the trays, the controller provides a range of adjustments up to ten hours, supports the presence of tilt limit switches, and without them, by setting the time to turn on the motor to cover the desired distance.

Automatic humidity control is controlled by a second electronic wet thermometer, psychrometric calculation method and when necessary, the load will turn on - atomizer or ultrasonic fogger with fan.

All manipulations of adjustments are made by three buttons.

The circuit uses temperature sensors DS18B20, the error of which can be set from the CU menu with an accuracy of 0.1 degrees.

Scheme of the incubator control unit on MK Atmega 8.

Depending on the applied output power switches, it is possible to apply different variants output circuits with different connection points and firmware options.

* If pulse transformers MIT-4, 12 with a connection point (A) are used to control thyristors / triacs, then this scheme is used.

*Management of MOS optocouplers.

Firmware - Pulse-phase, connection at point (A), MOC3021, MOC3022, MOC3023 are used (without Zero-Cross)
Firmware - Low-Frequency PWM, Point-to-Point (V), MOC3041, MOC3042, MOC3043, MOC3061, MOC3062, MOC3063 (with Zero-Cross)

I would like to start with the fact that disputes regarding such a problem as “which egg turning mechanism is better?” has been on the Internet for quite some time. Let's try to understand the example of two popular types of structures, such as a gurney and a swing.

Rolling principle:

This principle is very common in domestically produced foam incubators, since it is probably the simplest and least expensive to manufacture. This design does not have many advantages for the user, I would even say only two, this is in itself an auto-coup and low cost. Now let's move on to the cons: jamming of the mechanism (there were cases when the eggs got stuck and cracked), the lack of reliable support for the eggs in the cells of the lattice of the mechanism and a large backlash, which in turn can also lead to damage to the shell, especially in such a species of birds as quails. Some foreign manufacturers working on the same technology, in turn, tried to take into account all the nuances, using more suitable materials and having changed the design, in a similar design, the eggs have already ceased to prick, but the most a big problem associated with the location of the egg in a horizontal position. The fact is that such a nuance leads to such an unpleasant factor as a decrease in the number of healthy chicks by 10% - 20% (at the stage of embryo development, during rolling, there is a high probability of developing physiological pathologies).

Swing principle:

Here things are more interesting, first I want to note that this technology provides for a vertical arrangement of eggs and their rigid fixation, due to the presence of separate cells or fixing elements if a common large tray is provided for the tab, for example, like in Poseda incubators. For myself, I noted that the most convenient are all the same mechanisms for turning eggs in an incubator, which come with separate cells, since in this case the eggs do not contact each other and it is unnecessary to put cardboard boxes to fix them, although in this case the volume of eggs laid by us decreases, but at the same time, the percentage of hatching increases. So draw conclusions about what you want to receive, quantity or quality.

In practice, incubator buildings use several types of devices for turning eggs. In principle, there are two types of turning, this is a direct turn of the egg, when the hatching egg itself is turned in some way in the tray. And the second type, when the entire tray is rotated along with the eggs. The turn of the egg itself was not found wide application and is used mainly in small incubators for 6 to 50 eggs. But the rotation of trays with eggs is widely used both in relatively small incubators and in large industrial ones. It is the principle of turning trays with eggs that is of interest to most home-made people. it is easy enough to repeat.

Here, everything is clear without a description. The only thing that is required is to properly weight the trays so that there are no distortions. It is important to put all the rotary axes on which the trays are held in brass bushings or use special bearing supports for this purpose.

I must say that this tray rotation scheme is somewhat overloaded. With her practical implementation, two options are possible. remove two bottom supports(1-1) or one of the extreme trapezium rods (2-2). In this case, everything will work perfectly.

In practice, it looks like this:

Chain drive for turning trays in a homemade incubator.

I saw a very simple and reliable drive for turning trays in Chinese incubators. The drive is based on 6-20 watt reduction motors () and a chain. That's it, it's so simple and at the same time reliable, 500 eggs easily turns. Yes, in my homemade incubator with a similar tray rotation scheme, there is a 14 watt and 10 rpm reduction motor, as I said, an incubator for 500 eggs. Initially, there were fears that too fast “start” of the trays, that is, a jerk, was possible. But these fears were not justified, fully loaded trays with hatching eggs start moving quite gently and stop just as gently.

An interesting point, for this tray rotation scheme, I used a very old homemade incubator, which long years generally worked with manual rotation of the trays. There was very little space at the top of the incubator, so I fixed the engine on a simple bracket at the bottom of the incubator, under the trays. And not at the top and side, as in the photo below. At the same time, the lower location of the mechanism did not affect the performance of the structure, a package of five trays for one hundred hatching eggs in each, quietly worked for two seasons even without tightening the chain.

As best I could, I tried to depict it schematically, not very beautifully, but I hope it is understandable.

The photo shows that this drive scheme for turning the trays in the incubator is the simplest, at the same time it works great. The main thing in it is not any complicated turning work, everything can be done with your own hands .... Buy the rest: a reversible motor, an asterisk, a chain, two limit switches + a thermostat that controls everything and that's it, the incubator is ready. Of course, in the presence of a decent box with good thermal insulation and a mechanism for turning the trays.

The chain and sprocket are not simple (not bicycle), but specially made with a small step for reversible motors () The photo is somewhat enlarged, in fact the sprocket is smaller, the diameter of the hole for the motor shaft is 7mm.

Asterisks for engines of 6-14 watts cost: 350 rubles.

The chain for this sprocket is 0.5m. : 410 rubles. (0.5 meters is usually small. Measure carefully)

Chain 5 meters long, P=6.35: 2980 rubles.

There are sprockets and chains for a 20 watt motor, ask.

Now I am releasing a ready-made mechanism for turning trays, it is described

Imported incubators sometimes use a reliable, but somewhat time-consuming to repeat, tray rotation scheme. For example, the scheme for turning trays in a Chinese incubator.

Here is another example of using this scheme:

Same motorized tray frame, same engine, but quail egg trays are inserted.

According to this principle, I developed and manufactured a somewhat simplified rotary mechanism for mini trays. The task was to make an incubator of sufficient capacity, but with a minimum height.

Each tray shelf here holds 30 eggs, blunt end up. Shelf dimensions for trays: 50*15cm. From here, according to this scheme, you can make a small-sized incubator for 120-180 eggs, which is more than enough for a small farm. Moreover, it is not very difficult to “fasten” the second floor, while the engine (special reversible) will be used the same. 14 watt motor. In my opinion, despite the apparent laboriousness, this is a very promising scheme for building a home-made incubator.

I made trays from such pretty egg racks, it turned out not bad at all.

By the way, if anyone needs bearing units for tray drive mechanism in the incubator, then they are ...

For any shaft diameter, please inquire.

Left row:

The inner diameter for the shaft is from 4 to 30 mm.

Price: under the shaft 8 mm.-180 rubles.

Price: under the shaft 10 mm.-200 rubles.

for shaft 12 mm. - 230 rubles.

Right row:

Price: under the shaft 8 mm.-210 rubles.

Price: under the shaft 10 mm.-240 rubles.

for shaft 12 mm. - 280 rubles.

Hinges for driving trays in a homemade incubator.

What they serve for is visible from above in the photo. Without them, the tray drive (of any design) will not work !!!
The sizes under an axis from 5-16 mm.
The price of a hinge with a hole for the axle-8mm.: 320 rubles. Ask for other sizes.

Content:

The desire to receive more and give less is human nature. But it sometimes leads to the fact that the miser pays twice. This postulate can be attributed to incubators. The poultry farmer really needs it. Big, good and high quality is expensive. For example, the price of an incubator for 300 eggs is 29,000 rubles. A cheap one can last one season, and even spoil the hatching eggs. So it turns out that the economy does not lead to good.

But now for those who are “friends with technology” and have skillful hands, there is an opportunity to save money and get a reliable (there will be no one to blame) device that is very important for the poultry farmer. This is a homemade incubator. Available for sale complete sets for collection, as well as the automation necessary for their improvement is sold separately.

Requirements for homemade incubators

Before you assemble an incubator, you need to know specifications which it must provide.

• When incubating chicken eggs, the number of continuous days of its work is 21 days.
• Eggs in the incubator are laid out at a distance of at least 10 mm from each other
• The temperature in the incubator varies depending on the stage of development of the embryo in the egg.
• In automatic mode, eggs are turned over once every hour.
• Optimum humidity and ventilation are maintained. Air speed 5 m/s.

Ready kits

To facilitate work and increase the reliability of the future design, it makes sense to purchase ready kit automation in a homemade incubator. For example, such as in the figure below.

It includes:

• Temperature controller providing automatic visual control of temperature and humidity.
• Sensors that scan the state of temperature and humidity inside the incubator.
• Transformer 220/12V.
• Universal tray with automatic rotation. You can put either quail or chicken eggs in it.

The price of this set is 5000 rubles. But on the other hand, you can be sure that the incubation process is proceeding correctly. The temperature and humidity correspond to the set parameters, and the eggs turn on time.

If you are only interested in automatic egg turning, then you can purchase a simpler kit.

This photo shows dimensions devices. They will tell you how to place it in the future incubator.

This kit consists of the following:

• Reversible motor - 14 W, 2.5 rpm;
• Asterisks - 1 meter;
• Limit switches - 2 pcs;
• Mounting bracket;
• Connecting wires.

The kit is sold already assembled and configured. You just need to connect it to the control thermostat. Price - 3990 rubles.

Connecting this device in a homemade incubator looks like it is shown in the diagram.

But motorized trays have to be in some kind of enclosure. And it matters to the incubator. After all, inside it is carried out thermoregulation of air exchange for the incubation of eggs. Therefore, the thermal insulation qualities of the material from which the incubator will be made are very important.

An excellent option for the body is old refrigerator. Its body also has the properties of a thermostat, and the doors close comfortably and securely.

Re-equipment of the refrigerator under the incubator

Before proceeding with the assembly of the incubator from the old refrigerator, it is necessary to get rid of already unnecessary parts in it and remove freezer.

To ensure proper air exchange, it is necessary to establish a ventilation system.

Ventilation and humidity

To ensure ventilation in the refrigerator case, two holes with a diameter of 30 mm are made. One is at the bottom, the other is at the top. Tubes are inserted into these holes. By completely or partially closing these openings, you will regulate the air exchange inside the device.

At the bottom, install a fan on rubber cushions. You can use a computer fan. Place a container of water nearby. With the help of evaporation of this water, it will be possible to regulate the humidity in the future incubator. Attach heating elements. It can be ordinary incandescent lamps or heating elements.

Air exchange in this case occurs as follows.

• The air below is heated.
• Humidified with water vapor from a cuvette.
• The fan pushes the air up.
• Some of the heat is given off to hatching eggs;
• Part of the air cools and is blown out.
• After cooling, part of the air descends, and the other enters from the outside through the bottom hole.

Heating system

The simplest option heating - these are incandescent lamps with a power of 25 W. Four lamps are taken. Two are installed at the bottom, two at the top. Or you can use more powerful lamps (40 W), but take a smaller number of them (2 pieces). Heating elements can become an alternative to lamps.

Trays and their turning mechanism

You can buy a motorized tray made in China. They are also of high quality, but are cheaper than imported ones. Their kits include:

• a frame on which mini-trays with cells for eggs are installed;
• power unit;
• low-speed engine, excluding sharp jerks at the start of movement.

These are very handy trays. Their rotation is carried out by a built-in motor, which is enough to connect to the included power supply. The full cycle (90 degrees) of turning the trays takes two hours.

If you do not want to use this very convenient solution, you can make trays yourself. For example, from metal, wood and mesh, or any other material at hand. The main thing is to install them without skew in the body of a homemade incubator. Fix the rotary axes for the trays with brass bushings or use special bearing supports.

A chain drive can be used as a mechanism for turning the trays. Its connection diagram is shown in the figure above, and how it will look in established form in the photo below.

Conclusion

It’s worth making an incubator yourself only if you have locksmith skills and are “friends” with electrical engineering. Then you can significantly reduce your costs for the purchase of this product. It won’t be completely free, but you can purchase and install better and more reliable components.

All components of this device can be easily bought. This was written above. To control the entire mechanism, you will need to purchase a thermostat. And then apply your skills in plumbing.

As you can see, this option for equipping the overturning mechanism is more troublesome than purchasing a mechanized tray. And the price advantage is not so obvious.

In our difficult time, when commodity prices are rising at an inexorable pace, you will always find the area in which you can profitably apply your practical skills and theoretical knowledge. By looking at the cost of an incubator produced in an industrial environment, one can easily calculate the benefit from self-manufacturing similar device. Moreover, to make home incubator it's not that hard to do it by hand.

Here is what a forum user says about his homemade incubator with a mechanical egg flip geniuscat.

geniuscat

In short: an incubator for 60-70 chicken eggs, a mechanical coup using a special grate, I don’t do automatic in principle. Heating with light bulbs, two chains. Temperature control with an electrocontact thermometer. I don't trust electronics. The temperature runoff at the corners is 0.5 degrees. Cheap and cheerful. In the presence of components, it is possible to make an incubator in 3 - 4 hours.

The most important thing in manufacturing is to ensure the ability to maintain optimal indicators of humidity and temperature inside the device, as well as create conditions for the timely turning of eggs in order to warm them evenly.

Incubator housing

In most cases, the basis of everything is the body. And the incubator in this case is no exception.

When making the hull Special attention should be given to providing good thermal insulation for the future device. This will allow you to avoid the troubles associated with compliance with strict temperature regime in the incubation chamber.

For the manufacture of the body, porous polymeric materials, foam (polystyrene foam) 20 mm thick, etc. are quite suitable. You can also use fiberboard sheets or chipboard, but you should create double walls filled with foam rubber, felt or foam.

The dimensions of the incubator will directly depend on the number of eggs that are planned to be simultaneously placed in the chamber. Height inner chamber 50 cm will be enough. The area of ​​​​the inner base will be equal to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe egg tray. But it is necessary to add about 50 mm to it on each side. It is this gap that should be between the tray and the body of the incubator to ensure the circulation of air flows. In the lower base of the incubator, be sure to drill several holes with a diameter of 10 mm through which air will be exchanged between the interior of the chamber and external environment(the incubator must be constantly enriched with oxygen). For an incubator designed for 50 eggs, 6 holes are enough.

Attention! The bottom holes should be positioned in such a way that they are not blocked by a baking sheet (plate) with water, which will be installed in the chamber to maintain sufficient level humidity.

To ensure unhindered air movement between the bottom of the device and the surface on which it will be installed, there must be a gap of 30 ... 50 mm. In its top cover, a viewing window 100x100 mm, closed with glass, should be made. If there is no forced ventilation in the incubator, then the glass should be slightly opened during operation, leaving a gap of 10 ... 15 mm.

And one more nuance: one of the side surfaces of the incubator must have a door for changing water and other actions related to servicing the chamber.

Incubator Tray

In order for the eggs to be carefully placed in the interior of the incubator, we need to make a special tray. In our case, it can be made on the basis of wooden frame, which is covered with a fine mesh from below. As a mesh, both an ordinary mosquito, used in the design of modern window glass units, and a metal (maybe different) mesh with a cell size comparable to 5x5 mm (but no more) are suitable. In order to prevent sagging of the mesh, a couple of small rails can be nailed to the bottom of the tray, which will comprehensively strengthen the design of the tray.

In order to make it more convenient to turn the eggs during the incubation process, the tray should be equipped with an inserted wooden grate. For convenience, you can make several gratings at once, having different sizes internal cells. So, for quail eggs, a lattice with a cell size of 45x35 mm is suitable, for chicken egg cells with a size of 67x75 mm are needed. If you want to lay goose eggs in the incubator, then the cells must be of the appropriate size - 90x60 mm. The width of the grate should be 5 mm less than the tray itself. In length, it should be shorter by 50 ... 60 mm - for quail eggs, by 80 ... 90 mm - for chicken eggs and by 100 ... 110 mm - for goose eggs. Thus, by moving the grate along the tray, you can turn the eggs 180 degrees. In order to evenly warm the eggs over time, a similar procedure should be performed approximately once every 2 to 3 hours.

Egg Turning Tray

The height of the sides of the tray itself should be 70–80 mm. The tray should be installed on legs 100 mm high.

This is the most simple design tray that allows you to turn all the eggs at the same time. But in order for the design of the incubator to be more modern, the process of turning eggs can be automated. And this will require some technical improvements.

How to make a coup in an incubator

In order to automate the process of turning eggs in an incubator, it is necessary to introduce an electromechanical drive into its design that operates after a certain period of time (as we have already said, it is 2-3 hours). The accuracy of the time interval will be provided by a special time relay. The relay can be purchased ready-made. Those who like to "dig deeper" in microcircuits can make it on their own, taking electronic or even mechanical watches, which are easy to buy both in Moscow and in any village.

Here is what a FORUMHOUSE user writes about this.

mednagolov

Now on sale it is easy to purchase Chinese electromechanical relays with a 24-hour cycle. In fact, this is an elementary watch with a plug that is plugged into a socket, and on the case of this watch there is a socket into which a consumer is stuck, inside the watch a tiny electric motor turns. There is no need to start them, in the circle of the dial, lined for 24 hours, there are “pressers” with which you set the time intervals.

The electric motor must necessarily transmit torque through the gearbox. This will help make the grate move smoothly and keep the eggs intact.

The grid of the tray should move along the guides. The walls of the tray can play the role of guides. But in order to avoid accidental jamming, this mechanism can be improved. To do this, a metal axis protruding from both ends should be attached along the central axis of the lattice. It will play the role of a reliable guide. The axis will be inserted into special grooves made on the sides of the tray. This design is reliable, it can be easily assembled and, if necessary, quickly disassembled.

In order to drive the egg grill, we need a reciprocating mechanism consisting of an electric motor, a gearbox, a crank mechanism and a rod connecting the drive to the tray grill.

Device for flipping eggs in an incubator.

As an electric motor, you can use special "motors" for microwaves, which are commercially available. Also, some craftsmen create an electromechanical drive based on the mechanism that is part of car wipers. Or here is a way out of the situation that the forum member mednagolov came up with: the drive of the egg-turning mechanism from el. engine ball valve remote control d=3/4 220v (has an extremely powerful and durable gearbox, as well as end position microswitches).

He used the power supply from an old computer, and the time relay was a mechanism from a Chinese clock, which was written about a little higher.
The mechanism functions as follows: the relay closes the electrical circuit after a specified period of time. The mechanism is set in motion and moves the tray grate, turning the eggs. Then the end position signaling devices (limit switches) are triggered, and the grille is fixed in the opposite extreme position. After a predetermined time, the cycle is repeated, and the grate returns to its original position. The whole process in a homemade product takes place without human intervention.

Incubator heating

The correct placement of the heating elements in the incubator chamber is the key to success, ensuring the hatching of healthy and strong chicks. As heating elements, it is customary to use ordinary incandescent bulbs. Ideally, they are best placed above the egg tray, evenly spaced around the perimeter of the incubator. The tray and the heating element must be separated by a distance of at least 25 cm. Light bulbs should be used in a homemade incubator low power, 25 watts, etc. The total power of the heating elements used in such an incubator should be 80 watts - for a device designed for the simultaneous hatching of 50 chicks.

The lower the power of the heating elements, the more uniform the distribution of heat in the incubation chamber.

When placing lamps on the walls of the chamber, one should also monitor their uniform arrangement around the entire perimeter. Know that using serial electrical connection heating elements, you can significantly extend their service life. But the power of each consumer in this case will be halved. This should be taken into account when calculating the number of heating elements, because with the appropriate connection method, the number of consumers will have to double.

Temperature control

As we already know, the temperature in the incubator chamber must exactly match the specified parameters. Otherwise, such a device is worthless. Optimal for hatching chicks in artificial conditions is a temperature from 37.5 to 38.3º C. But it should be strictly observed. A regular thermostat, which can be purchased at the store without any problems, will help maintain the set range. It is necessary that this device provided an accuracy of temperature values ​​corresponding to 0.2 ° C. An error greater than the value presented can be fatal for developing embryos.

Connect thermostat to heating elements for a person who decided to make an incubator with his own hands, we think it will not be difficult. The main thing is to ensure that the temperature sensors are near the egg tray. For more accurate readings, the sensors can even be mounted on the tray. As an additional means of control, a conventional thermometer should be used. It is better if it is electronic, capable of showing tenths of a degree. But in extreme cases, an ordinary alcohol thermometer is also suitable. It should be fixed in the chamber in such a way that it is located immediately above the tray. In this case, his readings can be taken, looking through the viewing glass.

heat accumulator

JG_ FORUMHOUSE member

In order for the temperature to drop more slowly, it is necessary to use a thermal accumulator. I used water as TA. It gives moisture and still gains temperature, and when turned off, it gives it away for a long time, preventing the temperature from dropping quickly. Only the water container should be large. You can just put a metal pancake or a dumbbell inside - why not TA?

It remains to add that without a humidifier in the incubator, all your efforts are doomed to failure. Therefore, a baking sheet or an open plate filled with water can be considered one of the essential elements involved in the incubation process. As for the heat accumulator, then a heating pad or plastic bottle with water will never be redundant in the interior of your incubator.

Humidity can be monitored with a psychrometer, which can be purchased at a home improvement store. The optimum humidity in the incubator should be 50-55% (it can be increased to 65-70% just before hatching).

Incubator ventilation

many owners makeshift incubators consider that the fan is an integral part of such a device. But practice shows that a small incubator, the number of eggs in which does not exceed 50 pieces, can do without forced ventilation. Air convection takes place naturally and this is enough to maintain the vital activity of the embryos.

If your incubator chamber is designed for large quantity eggs, or if you want to create an ideal microclimate inside the device by all means, then for these purposes you can use special fans with a diameter of 80 to 200 mm (depending on the volume of the chamber).

The fan can be mounted in the top cover of the incubator in such a way that it draws air from inner space cameras. Part of the air flow will go outside, and its main volume will be reflected from the cover and pass over the lower supply holes, mixing warm air with cold and enriching it with oxygen.

That, perhaps, is all. Discover different opinions our users regarding the design, as well as get acquainted with their practical experience, you can in this topic. We also have information for those interested in performance. If you want to create more at home, the design of which contains powerful components and complex ventilation schemes then you should visit this section.