Custom Incubators

[John]

Max,
Thanks.  We have somewhat similar backgrounds.  I served part of a Die Maker apprenticeship, but I'm (was) a Patternmaker by trade having worked wood, metal, layout and design.  I  worked in both corporate and job shops and even had a small wood shop with a couple employees out in my pole barn years ago. 
The part that I dreaded most about building the incubators was having to cut up the cabinet material.  It came in 5' by 8' sheets.  I asked the place that I ordered it from if they could cut it and found that for just $15 they would cut all the pieces to size.  This also saved on freight, by having all the pieces fit on one pallet and all the cuts were square and most were dimensionally very accurate.

[Max]

I have worked for the same company for over 24 years. I learned the machining and tool & die on the job and went to school for the programming. I feel very fortunate to work for such a great company and the benefits are great as well.
I've been planning to rebuild my GQF cabinets. The plastic board looks really nice. I'm glad to hear they will cut it for you, that's a huge time saver! How are the insulating properties of the plastic compared to wood? Also, how do you like the Herpstat controller? I may use those when I rebuild...

[John]

How are the insulating properties of the plastic compared to wood? Also, how do you like the Herpstat controller?

I couldn't find anything on the website for the plastic board about insulation value.  I believe it would be similar to or better than plywood and it has so much more going for it over marine grade plywood.
So far the Herpstat controllers are working great.  They are keeping the temp very close to the set temp and generally only vary a few tenths of a degree above and below that set temp of 99.5.  It is pretty neat that although the heat elements are 350 watts in each incubator they don't run at full power/watts.  The Herpstat is a "proportional" temperature controller and only sends enough power to the elements to maintain the required temperature.  With most incubators the heating element is either on (100%) or off and the thermostat works as an On - Off switch.  I'm sure these proportional temperature controllers will save on my electric bill as they send just enough juice to the elements...like a dimmer switch for house lights.    

[Mike Gilbert]

John, will you be making any more of these for sale?   My old GQF 1202 is getting a little creaky, and I don't know how much longer it will last without some major work.   Already the timer went out so I'm tilting the eggs with the manual switch. 

[John]

will you be making any more of these for sale?

I don't plan to Mike, but you'll be first on the list if I do.  Someday I hope to find out how much I have invested in making these.  Then I would have a better idea if they would be worth my time to make and sell.  I also want to get a few hatches out of them to see how well they work.  Even though the temp varies very little at the probe that is plugged into the temp controller, the temp is not the same in every area in the cabinets.  This is true with any incubator I've used.  With 2 circulating fans in each unit I'm hoping these will be more consistent than others, but I've also read that GQF is now putting 2 fans in their cabinet incubators. 

1/20/2013 update:  It looks like I have about $630 into materials for each hatcher and $830 per setter.  Since my labor was free, I ended up with what should be great incubators at very reasonable costs.  If I doubled those material costs to compensate for my labor that would be about the price I would have to retail them at if I wanted to do that.

[Max]

John,

Thanks for the info. It will be very helpful when I start building mine. I love doing this kind of stuff! Well, I have about four months to plan and save. I will probably start on it sometime this summer after hatching season is over. Looking forward to your updates!

[John]

It will be very helpful when I start building mine.

I took lots of photos along the way and can email some or post more here to show more detail as requested.

[John]

My first hatch of the year is over.  I ended up with 170+ chicks, so more than 50% of the eggs hatched.  Since I don't candle and remove the infertile eggs, it was the first hatch of the season, the eggs were collected in early January, a slight power outage and other stuff...it was a very good hatch.  Here is a photo of some LF black and silver Ameraucanas and buff Chanteclers.

[Mike Gilbert]

Congrats John.   That's a nice looking batch of chicks, and the new incubators must have worked well.   I took off my third hatch today, and got 54 chicks out of  88 eggs originally set.   Ten were immediate culls, which a local guy takes for free.    Well, we did get a free snowplowing of our driveways, so maybe not quite free.    Not too bad for this weather, and considering the timer went out on my GQF Model 1202 so I'm tilting the eggs with the manual switch.  Too much trouble to take it apart to replace the timer, so I picked up a newer Dickey incubator off Craigslist, similar to the GQF Model 1502.  It had been used only one season to hatch pheasants, and I got it for $450, which I consider a fair price.  My 1202 is 15 years old, and it is available to anyone who needs one at a very reasonable price.  I'm still using it, but can switch over to the other 'bator most any time.

[Birdcrazy]

John, As the old saying goes, you can't count your chickens before they are hatched. But by your picture you can sure count them now! Great job on the incubators and hatchers and your first hatch,  even with all of the obstacles you mentioned.

[Beth C]

Congratulations on a very nice hatch with your new inventions! I wish you lived closer - I'd love to watch you do some of this stuff. But then, that might fall under that old joke:

price: $10
price if you watch: $50
price if you help: $100.

[vanalpaca]

Awesome that your blacks are already going off. I REALLY NEED some of your blacks as that is what I was trying for last year. I can only hope that you still have an opening on your hatch/shipping list by the time I get to the library to print out an order form!

I was looking at this post thinking that custom incubators was the new item you were adding to your 'fowl stuff' business.

[John]

Do you have covers for the hatching trays?   I can't imagine hatching without the covers as the chicks would be jumping out and all over the place.  If not, how deep are the sides of the trays?

Mike was right.  A few Chantecler chicks were able to get out of the top hatch basket, so I added some plastic board to close the gap.  Here are before and after photos in case someone is building something similar.