Off grid incubator

Considering, or completed a DIY prepper project? Made something using traditional methods? Post it here!
featherstick
Posts: 1124
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:09 pm

Re: Off grid incubator

Post by featherstick »

MissAnpasad, Arzosah

I've made a .pdf. Please send me an email address and I'll forward.
junmist
Posts: 1496
Joined: Tue May 08, 2012 5:39 am

Re: Off grid incubator

Post by junmist »

Ok may not be what you are looking for but it will run off of a car battery http://www.afn.org/~poultry/matilda.htm
AREA's 5-6 and 4
Feet the original All Terrain Vehicle
User avatar
yorkshirewolf
Posts: 341
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 11:52 pm

Re: Off grid incubator

Post by yorkshirewolf »

Just a thought, but what about heat mats? used for reptiles and such:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REPTILE-HEAT- ... 33983ca13b

Could be run through an inverter from a battery and charged via solar...
Arzosah
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: Off grid incubator

Post by Arzosah »

featherstick wrote:MissAnpasad, Arzosah

I've made a .pdf. Please send me an email address and I'll forward.
Sorry featherstick, I've only just seen this, sending you a pm right now. Ta muchly.
User avatar
MissAnpassad
Posts: 209
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 7:52 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Off grid incubator

Post by MissAnpassad »

yorkshirewolf wrote:Just a thought, but what about heat mats? used for reptiles and such:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REPTILE-HEAT- ... 33983ca13b

Could be run through an inverter from a battery and charged via solar...
Ain't enough sunlight here for solar, during winters we only have around 6 hours per day. And if I used something like a car battery, I might as well use a ready made incubator.
User avatar
Hedgie
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 2:12 pm
Location: North of the M3 South of the M4 - Area 2

Re: Off grid incubator

Post by Hedgie »

To be honest, in an off grid post whatever situation, I would be more inclined to Fort Knox the Chicken House and set snares for Mr Red Coat.

If he gets in and kills all your chooks, it won't matter if you had a cockerel. Chances are you might have a few eggs about the house, but if they haven't been stored properly, they might not hatch anyway. And its not just a case of keeping those eggys warm, there has to be humidity, regular turning, constant temperature just to get them to hatching point. And say you get them to hatch, then you've got 6 weeks of heat and light and specialist feed before they feather up enough to go outside.

The chances are if your heat, humidity (and even time of year!) isn't right you could end up with a greater percentile of males to females - its all very hit and miss - even with a modern all singing all dancing electric powered incubator these days.

Better to keep your chookies safe, use a hen to incubate and do the rearing for you and if you're really lucky, you could have a nice foxy rug for in front of the fire ;)
On the Naughty Step . . . Again!
User avatar
MissAnpassad
Posts: 209
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2015 7:52 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Off grid incubator

Post by MissAnpassad »

Hedgie wrote:To be honest, in an off grid post whatever situation, I would be more inclined to Fort Knox the Chicken House and set snares for Mr Red Coat.

If he gets in and kills all your chooks, it won't matter if you had a cockerel. Chances are you might have a few eggs about the house, but if they haven't been stored properly, they might not hatch anyway. And its not just a case of keeping those eggys warm, there has to be humidity, regular turning, constant temperature just to get them to hatching point. And say you get them to hatch, then you've got 6 weeks of heat and light and specialist feed before they feather up enough to go outside.

The chances are if your heat, humidity (and even time of year!) isn't right you could end up with a greater percentile of males to females - its all very hit and miss - even with a modern all singing all dancing electric powered incubator these days.

Better to keep your chookies safe, use a hen to incubate and do the rearing for you and if you're really lucky, you could have a nice foxy rug for in front of the fire ;)
Keeping the chickens locked in, gives you a lot more work to do, than you would have to do tending to the incubator and then the baby chicks. Free Range chickens are far less likely to contract diseases as they don't live in a confined environment, you need to change the bedding very often (consider that you also need to gather bedding materials), you need to feed them up to 90 % more (during summers, my chickens don't eat the feed at all). And if mr Fox manages to get in to the pen, then he will kill them all, free range scatter and you are more likely to still have chicken alive. And he probably will or his friend the ferret and hawk, because building a Fort Knox pen in the size around 500 square meters is virtually impossible to do without jeopardizing your chickens health and quality of life, and it is enormously expensive.

And do you know that you actually can hatch the organic eggs from the supermarket (if your laws about keeping organic chickens are the same as ours, as here they have to have a rooster)?

Specialized feed? Why? My chicks eat the same as their parents.
gamekeeper752
Posts: 194
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2015 4:31 pm
Location: Wessex

Re: Off grid incubator

Post by gamekeeper752 »

each to their own
i have chickens and use the best incubator out there a Mk1 broody silkie bantam
i have used all types of hatchers incubators gas liquid fuel electricity and should there come a time when i truly go off grid that,s my plan
you can leave them alone or make a run its not difficult
my girls have a large run which has six foot wire and then 2 feet extra dug and turned into the ground, yes it was hard work to set-up on my own but should last 15 yrs with no problems. i also run snares and fenn traps, and so far 6 yrs in no problems, there is also the fact that she teaches them to be safe what to eat and the general rules of life.
the only problem is if she comes off broody so i always fun three one one eggs and 2 on dummies then I've got it all covered.
my mum used to hatch geese eggs in the airing cupboard which was run off the Rayburn she used to use a basic thermometer to keep the temperature about right.
Train hard,Fight easy, put the kettle on and make tea