Gravity feed egg turner

[CalgaryFarmer]

Here is my gravity feed egg turner.

The holder is the top of an egg carton. The egg carton had a flat top. I removed the bottom of the egg carton. I also cut the sides of the top down by half so the sides are not a large obstacle to the newborn chicks. I glued in 2 chopsticks. The turner holds 5 eggs.

To get it to work, just remove the bottom egg from the turner and place it at the top and the rest will roll down. This causes the eggs to turn about one third of a turn. You also need to make sure you turn the egg that you move.

The turner needs to be at a slight incline for this to work.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Give us an update after it's been through a few batches, would you please? I'm curious to see what changes you woukd make in practice.

 

[CalgaryFarmer]

Thank you for your interest.

I have a few additional thoughts:

- it works really well.

- I wish my chopsticks were a bit longer as the holder/turner could accommodate 6 eggs. I have bbq skewers that I would use instead. They are fairly thick and I would cut them down to size.

- for the incline, I would first test on store-bought eggs as the eggs can roll fairly quickly and can bump into each other, so you want to get it right before you add your hatching eggs. The mesh (floor) in my incubator is not level so I use that for the incline. A napkin that is folded over a couple of times and placed under one end might do the trick.

- as well, if the rails are closer together at one end, the eggs might roll without the need for an incline. I tried this and it seems to work.

- if the rails are further apart, then the eggs will likely roll over more eg, closer to 1/2 a turn and if they are closer together, they would likely turn less, such as a 1/4 turn. I have not tried this. My rails are 1 inch apart measuring from the inside.

- the eggs obviously move when they turn, so this will help if the incubator does not have uniform temperature.

- I use dry incubation. There is a risk that the rails may warp when the humidity is raised. I will see at lockdown.

Below is another picture.

 

[CalgaryFarmer]

Here is the v-shaped gravity turner. They will roll on their own without an incline, but not very well.

 

[CalgaryFarmer]

Here is the turner with bbq skewers. I had to cut the ends off to get it to fit.

I like this setup the best.

A napkin folded over once works. Even without an incline it works if the eggs are given a little push.