Incubator Top inside Bottom inside
Here's the hatcher, built in
the
same style and the same size, only one set of heat strips at the top.
Hatcher Tray and Egg
Separator Separator
detail Egg Separator Closed
We'll post more information about the incubator and hatcher soon. These are what we incubate and hatch the Call Duck eggs in.
Ken's notes on the incubator/hatcher
Dimensions and Material:
48" High, 23" Wide and 34" Deep and this includes the door. All out of 1 and 1/8 thick decking plywood.
Interior Specifications:
3/4 plywood shelf 9" from top, starting 4" from the back of cabinet and stopping 6" from the door. Also 3/4 plywood 4" from back of cabinet put a false back starting 4" from floor and going up to the shelf. From the shelf up continue on up with another piece in the back with a hole cut in the center for the fan to mount. Size of hole depends on the size of fan.
Trays are 20 and 1/2" W by 28" L made from strips of wood 1 and 1/4" by 3/4". You can use 1/2" or 1/4" hardware cloth depending on the type of birds to be hatched. Trays are slid into place on strips of wood that are nailed to the inside walls of the cabinet. Strip are 3/4" by 1" and start eight inches from bottom and are spaced every 3 and 1/2"
You can buy the fans and heat strips from Randall Burkey, but in the past I have used old refrigerator fans and heat strips from electric space heaters. In fact you can sometimes buy a space heater in a garage sale for a lot less than just heat strips and they are of better quality. The large size of this incubator makes it hard to keep the temperature even from top to bottom which is why I suggest heat strips top and bottom if it is used for an incubator. If it is used for a hatcher it is nice to be able to put the chicks in a bottom shelf where it is 3 to 4 degrees cooler. With heat strips at the bottom the difference between top and bottom shelf is about 1 and 1/2 degrees. We start the eggs on the top shelf then the next week when we add more eggs we move the top tray down one and move another empty to the top to be filled.
We started out with a wafer thermostat which has a 3 to 4 degree on/off differential. Then a very good friend gave us an electronic thermostat that is always within 1/10 of 1 degree. If the eggs in your incubator are important to you I would highly recommend going with the electronic and a good digital thermometer/hygrometer, with maximum/minimum readings.
Randall Burkey
Supplier of lots of good stuff at great prices!
Feathersite's Incubation Page
The Feathersite page has links to a lot of plans for homemade incubators, and general incubation information
Build your own Incubator from a Styrofoam Cooler
Return to Hatching Peafowl Eggs
Return to Call Duck Egg Page
Peafowl Home Page
We'll post more information about the incubator and hatcher soon. These are what we incubate and hatch the Call Duck eggs in.
Ken's notes on the incubator/hatcher
Dimensions and Material:
48" High, 23" Wide and 34" Deep and this includes the door. All out of 1 and 1/8 thick decking plywood.
Interior Specifications:
3/4 plywood shelf 9" from top, starting 4" from the back of cabinet and stopping 6" from the door. Also 3/4 plywood 4" from back of cabinet put a false back starting 4" from floor and going up to the shelf. From the shelf up continue on up with another piece in the back with a hole cut in the center for the fan to mount. Size of hole depends on the size of fan.
Trays are 20 and 1/2" W by 28" L made from strips of wood 1 and 1/4" by 3/4". You can use 1/2" or 1/4" hardware cloth depending on the type of birds to be hatched. Trays are slid into place on strips of wood that are nailed to the inside walls of the cabinet. Strip are 3/4" by 1" and start eight inches from bottom and are spaced every 3 and 1/2"
You can buy the fans and heat strips from Randall Burkey, but in the past I have used old refrigerator fans and heat strips from electric space heaters. In fact you can sometimes buy a space heater in a garage sale for a lot less than just heat strips and they are of better quality. The large size of this incubator makes it hard to keep the temperature even from top to bottom which is why I suggest heat strips top and bottom if it is used for an incubator. If it is used for a hatcher it is nice to be able to put the chicks in a bottom shelf where it is 3 to 4 degrees cooler. With heat strips at the bottom the difference between top and bottom shelf is about 1 and 1/2 degrees. We start the eggs on the top shelf then the next week when we add more eggs we move the top tray down one and move another empty to the top to be filled.
We started out with a wafer thermostat which has a 3 to 4 degree on/off differential. Then a very good friend gave us an electronic thermostat that is always within 1/10 of 1 degree. If the eggs in your incubator are important to you I would highly recommend going with the electronic and a good digital thermometer/hygrometer, with maximum/minimum readings.
Randall Burkey
Supplier of lots of good stuff at great prices!
Feathersite's Incubation Page
The Feathersite page has links to a lot of plans for homemade incubators, and general incubation information
Build your own Incubator from a Styrofoam Cooler
Return to Hatching Peafowl Eggs
Return to Call Duck Egg Page
Peafowl Home Page
02/10/07