The Bantam Barn
Bantam Chickens
Freezer converted to Hatcher
Since I own a few incubators I ran into a slight problem when it came to hatching time. I didn't have enough room to put eggs due to hatch. I was turning the auto turner off for a couple of days until the eggs hatched and then starting the auto turner back up. I really didn't like doing this because other eggs were not being rotated for a couple of days. I really needed a hatcher.
One day I was scanning ebay as saw a auction for a book on HOW to make HOMEMADE INCUBATORS. I was thinking I could make a hatcher. I needed a big hatcher, so I got an large
upright freezer. I found one at a repair shop for free.
I studied my sportsman incubator to see how it was made and where all the part were located in the incubator. I was going to make my hatcher just like the sportsman incubator. By using a large upright freezer I had plenty of room to hold hundreds of eggs.
After getting the freezer home, I stripped the freezer of the motor & compressor and anything that was not needed . I installed the mounting brackets for the fan to the top of the freezer. I also drilled 1 inch holes in the back of the freezer(at the top and bottom) so the fan could pull in fresh air.
On the inside there was a panel at the bottom. I took that panel off and removed some coils that the panel was covering. I reused this panel.
I moved it to the top and placed it about 6 inches from the back. I cut a hole in center at the top so the fan could move air through it. Then, I attached heater coils on the front of the panel over the circular hole I cut.
Next , I installed the thermostat on the inside wall. I followed the instruction and wire the thermostat to the power plug and also to the fan. Next, I bought and installed the 5 gallon auto watering system for the humidity tray simply by placing the 5 gallon bucket on top of the freezer and drilling a hole for the tube to go through and attach it to the humidity tray. The tray is place directly in front of the fan. I plugged it in and adjusted the temp to 99.4 degrees. After I got the temp regulated I used an indoor outdoor
thermometer with the lead for outdoor temp in the Hatcher. This hatcher works really well, far more than my expectations. The thermostat is on & off very quickly and hold temps very well.
The parts I used I bought from GQF and are the parts they used for their Sportsman Incubators.
Here is what I bought: 1 Thermostat complete(wafer type), 1 high volume fan moter with mounting brackets, and heat element with wire leads & porcelain insulators. All of these were under $100.
So now on the 18th day of incubation chicken eggs are transferred to the hatcher. Now I no more mess to clean up in my incubators and when the hatcher is empty I can carefully just hose it down , brush it and rinse it clean. I highly recommend anyone with more than one large incubator build this hatcher... Call some of your appliance repair shops and ask if they have upright freezer that are unrepairable.
One day I was scanning ebay as saw a auction for a book on HOW to make HOMEMADE INCUBATORS. I was thinking I could make a hatcher. I needed a big hatcher, so I got an large
upright freezer. I found one at a repair shop for free.
I studied my sportsman incubator to see how it was made and where all the part were located in the incubator. I was going to make my hatcher just like the sportsman incubator. By using a large upright freezer I had plenty of room to hold hundreds of eggs.
After getting the freezer home, I stripped the freezer of the motor & compressor and anything that was not needed . I installed the mounting brackets for the fan to the top of the freezer. I also drilled 1 inch holes in the back of the freezer(at the top and bottom) so the fan could pull in fresh air.
On the inside there was a panel at the bottom. I took that panel off and removed some coils that the panel was covering. I reused this panel.
I moved it to the top and placed it about 6 inches from the back. I cut a hole in center at the top so the fan could move air through it. Then, I attached heater coils on the front of the panel over the circular hole I cut.
Next , I installed the thermostat on the inside wall. I followed the instruction and wire the thermostat to the power plug and also to the fan. Next, I bought and installed the 5 gallon auto watering system for the humidity tray simply by placing the 5 gallon bucket on top of the freezer and drilling a hole for the tube to go through and attach it to the humidity tray. The tray is place directly in front of the fan. I plugged it in and adjusted the temp to 99.4 degrees. After I got the temp regulated I used an indoor outdoor
thermometer with the lead for outdoor temp in the Hatcher. This hatcher works really well, far more than my expectations. The thermostat is on & off very quickly and hold temps very well.
The parts I used I bought from GQF and are the parts they used for their Sportsman Incubators.
Here is what I bought: 1 Thermostat complete(wafer type), 1 high volume fan moter with mounting brackets, and heat element with wire leads & porcelain insulators. All of these were under $100.
So now on the 18th day of incubation chicken eggs are transferred to the hatcher. Now I no more mess to clean up in my incubators and when the hatcher is empty I can carefully just hose it down , brush it and rinse it clean. I highly recommend anyone with more than one large incubator build this hatcher... Call some of your appliance repair shops and ask if they have upright freezer that are unrepairable.
picture of hatcher
Here are a couple of pictures of the hatcher.In the photo below you can see there is still more room to double stack hatching trays. I made them from 1x4's and used 1/4 inch hardware cloth for the tops and bottoms so the air would move freely through the trays. There are a couple of metal trays in there that came from my incubators, I used them until I made more trays from the 1x4's.
