Design, Construction and Testing of a Kerosene Powered Multi Bird-Egg Incubator

Abstract

The demand for poultry products such as eggs, meat and birds is on the increase daily that the world can no longer depend solely on the natural mode of incubation hence, the need for artificial incubators. But not all countries have stable electricity supply; therefore, there is a need to fabricate other types of incubators that will not be powered by electricity. Hence the choice of kerosene powered incubator. Heat generated by the combustion of kerosene was transferred into the incubator chamber by conduction and circulated by means of a 12 V D.C fan powered by a 12volt battery device. LM35 temperature sensor was used as the temperature sensing device. Both the turning of eggs and heat generated from heat source were controlled by mechanically incorporated driver motors. The LM35 temperature sensor and the two stepper motors were controlled by a PIC16F877 microcontroller. Insulation of the incubator chamber was achieved by lining the inner portion of the incubator with fiber materials. The incubator was designed and constructed using locally available material to reduce cost with little or no dependence on electricity and more user friendly. The incubator was tested with 90 eggs each for the three birds (i.e Chicken, Quail and Turkey). The result obtained shows that quail has the highest hatchability of 93% followed by Chicken with 84.4% and lastly turkey with 70%. The unit cost for the incubator is ₦95,000.00. The above average efficiencies implied that the Incubator performed efficiently and effectively. The birds also look healthy and strong several days after they were hatched.