DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW-COST SEMI-AUTOMATED INCUBATOR

Authors

  • O. O. Oniya Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Author
  • F. B. Akande Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Author
  • A. O. Lawal Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Author
  • A. S. Adeyemo Department of Agricultural Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Author

Keywords:

Incubator, automation, thermistor, inverter, hatchability,, eggs

Abstract

Most of the incubators available in Nigeria presently are imported, expensive and beyond the reach of
majority of the farmers. Hence, a low cost semi- automated incubator powered by a back up inverter was
developed and tested. An experiment was conducted in triplicate to determine the hatchability and
incubation period of exotic chicken eggs using the incubator. The incubator consists of a heat source (100
W bulb), moisture container, a thermistor, 12 V battery, 1000 W inverter, 0.14 W electric fan and an
incubating chamber having two egg trays of 80 eggs capacity each. The egg trays were turned at an
interval of 6 hours. This arrangement maintained the chamber temperature and relative humidity within
the range of 36 – 39 °C and 55 – 70% respectively. The hatchability of exotic chicken eggs was found to
be 91% while the average incubation period was 21 days using the low cost semi-automated incubator.
The incubator is suitable for hatching eggs of domestic fowls, turkeys and ducks on Nigeria farms where
small-scale hatching operations are needed and there is no constant electricity supply.

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Published

2025-05-08

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 1 (2013): JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (JAET)

Section

Articles