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How to build an Incubator Things You'll Need: Light socket with cord Large Styrofoam cooler with lid Marker Utility knife Dimmer switch for table lamps 8 x 11 piece of glass Tape Wood glue Small plastic fan Small bowl of water Thermometer in clear plastic sleeve 25 or 15 watt light bulb Instructions: 1 . Place a light socket, with a cord attached, upside down on top of a Styrofoam cooler lid. The larger the Styrofoam cooler the better. Trace a circle around the light socket and use a utility knife to cut out the hole. 2. Place the light socket into the hole, widening the hole with the utility knife if needed. Let the cord run out the top. Make sure you can reach the on/off switch from the outside. Add a dimmer switch to the cord. This allows you to control the temperature from the outside

How to Build an Incubator

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Page 1: How to Build an Incubator

How to build an Incubator

Things You'll Need:

Light socket with cord Large Styrofoam cooler with lid Marker Utility knife Dimmer switch for table lamps 8 x 11 piece of glass Tape Wood glue Small plastic fan Small bowl of water Thermometer in clear plastic sleeve 25 or 15 watt light bulb

Instructions:

1 . Place a light socket, with a cord attached, upside down on top of a Styrofoam cooler lid. The larger the Styrofoam cooler the better. Trace a circle around the light socket and use a utility knife to cut out the hole.

2. Place the light socket into the hole, widening the hole with the utility knife if needed. Let the cord run out the top. Make sure you can reach the on/off switch from the outside. Add a dimmer switch to the cord. This allows you to control the temperature from the outside of the incubator. Make sure the dimmer switch is for table lamps and not a light switch installed on the wall.

3. Take an 8 x 11 piece of glass, found in picture frames, and cut out a square slightly smaller than the piece of glass into the side of the cooler.

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4. Use tape or wood glue to attach the 8 x 11 piece of glass onto the side of the incubator. Glue it to the outside, not the inside. This creates a sealed window to view the inside of the incubator through.

5. Punch a few small holes in the side of the incubator. They provide ventilation. Consider buying a small, plastic fan and placing it in the back corner of the incubator to help circulate the air. You'll need to run the cord out the side like you did the light socket cord. If you cannot find one that will fit, continue without it.

6. Fill a small bowl with water and place it inside the incubator. This helps with humidity.

7. Place a thermometer in a clear plastic sleeve inside the incubator in a location you can see clearly through the window in front. The base should be at the same height as the eggs will be when you place them inside.

8. Put a 25 watt light bulb into the light socket, or a 15 watt light bulb if your incubator is made from a small Styrofoam cooler instead of a large one. Close the lid and plug the light bulb in.

9. Turn on the light bulb and the fan, if you included one. Allow them to run for several hours and monitor the temperature. Tape over ventilation holes if the temperature remains too low, and poke more holes if it stays too high. You can also adjust the strength of the light bulb using the dimmer switch to control temperature.

10. Place the eggs inside the incubator after you feel you can keep the temperature within the desired range. Make adjustments to the ventilation holes, the strength of the light bulb or the fan to help get the temperature to the right level and keep it steady before beginning.

Tips & Warnings

Make sure the incubator can keep the temperature at the desired level without dropping or fluctuating before you add the eggs.

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Large Homemade Incubators

DUCK INCUBATOR

This is a kitchen refrigerator with the doors attached on the right and open in both photographs. The upper freezer compartment is shown in the first photograph. The 100 watt light bulbs in the photograph produce the heat and the bathroom exhaust fan blows the heated air down through the eggs. The air has previously traveled through the eggs and then is sucked by the fan up a false back thus returning the air to the freezer section of the refrigerator to be reheated and sent on its way again. Fresh air joins the air being heated as the fresh air is allowed to enter by keeping the freezer compartment door slightly (one quarter inch) ajar. To the left of the light bulbs is a wafer thermostat mounted in a handy box. A small part of the lower section is shown in the top photograph to help in orienting the lower photograph with the first photograph.

Duck, Chicken, And Quail IncubatorMade From Old Kitchen RefrigeratorConverted Freezer Area Is Pictured

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Duck, Chicken, And Quail IncubatorMade From Old Kitchen Refrigerator

Converted Refrigerator Area Is Pictured

The three egg trays are connected by a strip of wood on each of the back corners. The arrangement was calibrated by leveling all three trays before attaching the strips of wood to the corners. For several years the incubator was operated as a "hand turner." By tilting one tray, all of the trays were tilted and the eggs were thus turned. Blocks were used to control the amount of the tilt. Later the automatic turner was added to the system. The thermostat system is a GQF electronic (#3258) thermostat backed by the wafer thermostat shown in the first photograph. The electronic thermostat is placed directly in the air flow coming from the fan in the upper compartment. The automatic turner is also a GQF. Probe thermometers are attached to the outside of the incubator (See G3) with the probes inserted through a hole and placed on the upper and lower trays. A

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wire basket sits under the three trays to catch babies that hatch in the trays and fall to the bottom. Most eggs are placed in the basket before they hatch. The wiring discussion below will describe the wiring procedure for this incubator. Since this is the only one of the incubators that has a turner, note the turner like the fan must be wired to be constantly available for use.

RHEA/EMU INCUBATOR

Rhea And Emu Incubator Made FromOld Restaurant Pie Safe

This is a restaurant pie safe. The air is heated by GQF heat cables which now replace the old refrigeration coils in the top of the unit. Air is sucked to the top of the incubator in the middle of the unit by a fan mounted in a chase as long as the

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incubator. The air is blown out the ends of the chase. Thus the air circulates in two circles. There is one circle on each end and in each case the circle is from the middle to the end, down to the bottom of the incubator, and back to the middle. The thermostat system is a GQF electronic (#3258) thermostat backed by a wafer thermostat. Both are placed at one end of the chase to be directly in the air flow pattern. The fan is the original refrigeration fan. This incubator is wired according to the wiring instructions below except that two 100 watt GQF heat cables have been substituted for light bulbs.

Rhea And Emu Incubator Made FromOld Restaurant Pie Safe

Converted To A Duck Incubator

As interest in raising rheas and emus waned the pie safe was converted to a duck incubator. The conversion required only the removal of the metal shelves followed by insertion of the shelf unit pictured below. It was not convenient to

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install an automatic turner so the trays were attached allowing the eggs to be turned by lifting or lowering any of the shelves. When one shelf moves they all move.

Insert For Conversion To A Duck Incubator

GOOSE INCUBATOR

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G1 - Goose Incubator On Left, Rhea/Emu Or Goose Hatcher OnRight Made From Old School Two Door Refrigerator

This is a school-type refrigerator. The two doors are open and not shown in the G1 but can be seen in G2. The unit on the left is smaller than the unit on the right as the right side is slightly taller. Goose eggs can be kept at 99.7 on the left while rhea and emu eggs can be kept on the right at about a degree lower or the right can be used as a hatcher for goose eggs. The middle between the two units is an enclosed chase with four openings at the top and four openings at the bottom that extend from the left side through to the right side. Two 100 watt bulbs are mounted at the bottom in the two center openings in the chase and two 40 watt bulbs are mounted in the two center openings in the top of

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the chase. The 40 watt bulbs are turned off and on as needed to regulate the temperatures at the top and bottom of the incubator, while the major heat dependence is on the 100 watt bulbs.

G2 - Goose Incubator Showing Glow Side With Bulbs Off At The TopFans And Sheet metal blocks At The Bottom Plus Hatching Baskets

Note that there is a golden glow at the lower left and the upper right of the middle support in G1. The glow is produced by light bulbs which are turned on inside the chase and are in holes which are not blocked by sheet metal. The openings on the opposite side of each glow are blocked with sheet metal immediately in front of the bulbs as can be seen in G2 at the bottom of the right side. Air circulates from the top

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left down to bottom left, through the chase to bottom right, returns to top right, and through the chase to the top left . To make this action take place, fans are placed in the first and fourth openings on the opposite side of the glow with the two middle openings blocked. Literally they are mounted on the top left and bottom right of the chase. The fans are pulling air from the glow side through to the blocked side of the chase.

G3 - Goose Incubator Showing ThermometersObservation Lights For Thermostats

The thermostat system is a GQF electronic (#3258) thermostat backed up by a wafer thermostat. Both placed directly in front of one of the

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upper fans as can be seen in G1 and G3. The fans are Radio Shack 4 inch fans. When the bottom fan motors needed replacing recently they were replaced with Gemline EM670 fans, but the Radio Shack fan casings were retained to protect the fan blades. The thermometers are Radio Shack indoor/outdoor thermometers with probes. Note that the thermometers are mounted on top of the incubator and the probes are inserted through a hole into the incubator as shown in G3. Two thermometers monitor each side with a probe on the highest and lowest shelf on each side. This thermometer arrangement allows for monitoring of temperature without opening the doors. A small fan not show in any of the photographs is placed below a hole in the chase that was formerly a refrigeration moisture drain. This fan constantly pulls fresh air into the chase which serves as the heating chamber and provides the needed fresh air, while allowing the air to be heated before being distributed into the incubator proper. A Radio Shack thermometer/humidity gauge hangs on the back wall of the left side. Humidity is controlled by placing a plastic pan full of water on the floor of the right side of the incubator.

This incubator is designed for the goose eggs to lie flat on the wire shelves. The eggs are turned 180 degrees three to four times daily. It has been our experience that goose eggs hatch better when placed on the side rather than the end. This incubator is constructed with all of the wiring rising through the chase. When the incubator is in use the fans are always on and the light bulbs are turned on by the thermostats when heat is need to keep the temperature at the desired level. The bulbs are 130 volt bulbs purchased at an electrical supply store. These

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bulbs give much better service than the normal 120 volt bulbs available at most retail outlets.

Wiring Of All Three IncubatorsUnless you have experience doing electrical wiring it is certainly best to call on someone who has the experience. If you choose to proceed on your own, do so at your own risk. I use a good grade of 16/3 (number 16 wire with a ground wire) to go from the wall socket to the incubator. Inside the incubator I take the plastic jacket off to make it possible to work with the black, white, and green wires. Be sure to not cut the outside coating on the black, white, and green wires except where you are making connections.

Wiring Scheme For All Three Incubators

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The green wire is the ground wire and I like to have one since the incubators are nearly all metal, thus the green wire is bolted to the metal cabinet. The black (main black) wire must lead to all of the fans and to the thermostats. Each fan must be wired individually to the black wire, then connected to the white (main white) wire. The electronic thermostat is connected to the main black wire along with the fans. Except that with my wiring scheme the white wire of the electronic thermostat connects to the main black wire. The black wire of the thermostat now connects to the main white wire. Please note these black/white combinations are a peculiarity of this thermostat and my use of it, although it is an option detailed in the wiring instructions which come with the thermostat. The wafer thermostat is connected to the electronic thermostat by the blue wire. The blue wire attaches to the black wire to which each light must be individually attached. The white wires from the lights must be attached to the main white wire. If I want a light on the outside to let me know what is going on inside the incubator, I can mount a light on the outside of the incubator with its black wire joinng the black wire for the other light bulbs and its white wire joining their white wires. To set the temperature on the thermostats I fill the incubator close to the thermometer probes with burned out light bulbs. I set the wafer thermostat first to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. It will be my backup. Finally I set the electronic thermostat at 99.7 degrees Fahrenheit. If the electronic should fail the wafer will keep the eggs from being heated to the point of ruin.

Circulation of the air and having the thermostat placed directly in the major flow of air are the most important aspects of constructing any incubator.

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Georgia Quail Farm (GQF) incubator parts are normally obtained from Rocky Top General Store, PO Box 1006, Harriman, TN 37748, 423-882-8867. They will send a catalog on request. The web page can be found at: http://www.rockytopgen.com/

For more information please contact:

Maurice Houston FieldProfessor Emeritus of Science Education andCurator, Waterfowl of [email protected]