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Performance Evaluation of the Developed Solar Powered Poultry Egg Incubator for Chicken

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Performance Evaluation of the Developed Solar Powered Poultry Egg Incubator for Chicken Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology 6:67-81(2018) Southern Leyte State University, Sogod, Southern Leyte, Philippines Performance Evaluation of the Developed Solar Powered Poultry Egg Incubator for Chicken Fe Alin T. Dalangin1 Adolfo C. Ancheta2 1Provicial Agricultural Services Office Maasin City, Southern Leyte 2Graduate School Southern Leyte State University Sogod, Southern Leyte, Philippines Abstract A Solar Powered Poultry Egg Incubator (SPPEI) was developed and tested to evaluate its performance, and it was compared to an existing incubator that can incubate chicken eggs within the temperature range of 35◦C to 40◦C. The main components of the developed incubator are the incubating unit, the temperature device and the photovoltaic (PV) system. The developed incubator had 73% hatchability, 71% vigorous chicks and fewer dead embryos compared to the existing incubator that had 60% hatchability, 58% chick vigor and more embryos. The developed incubator hatched chicks starting on the 18th day until the 21st day of incubation, while the existing incubator hatched chicks on the 18th day until the 22nd day of incubation. The average temperatures in the developed incubator were within the acceptable incubation temperature range: at 37.72◦C (99.89◦F) in the morning , at 37.94◦C in◦ the afternoon (100.29◦F), and at 37.83◦C (100.09◦F) in the evening, while with the existing incubator, it is within 38.67◦C (101.6◦F), 38.74◦C (101.7◦F) and 38.52◦C (101.3◦F). The average relative humidities in the developed incubator are 60% in the morning, 60.3% in the afternoon and also 60.3% in the night while that of the existing incubator are 60%, 57.33% and 59%, respectively. The egg incubator was able to maintain the optimum conditions for the hatching of the chicken eggs, and was capable of incubating and hatching the chicken eggs effectively. Keywords: Temperature; Humidity; Ventilation; Hatchability; Chick vigor; Egg incubator Introduction role of providing fertile eggs with optimum environmental conditions (temperature, egg Population growth globally causes an increase turning, relative humidity and ventilation) of chicken eggs’ demand in the world (Boleli to stimulate embryonic development until et al., 2016; Ajiwiguna et al., 2018). Poultry hatching (French 1997; Othman et al., farming helps with the agricultural production 2014; Aru 2017). The egg incubator is a of chicken eggs that commonly starts from device which can control the temperature backyard farms. Poultry farming may include and humidity in preparation for the hatching egg hatching, brooding, and incubation. process. By using an egg incubator, the hen Incubation is the process undergone for the does not need to incubate the eggs manually. poultry to hatch their eggs, and to develop Thus, this incubator device can help farmers the embryo within the egg. Incubators with the hatching of eggs to produce chickens. are machines, which simulate the hen’s The vital factor of incubation is the constant *Correspondence: [email protected] ISSN 2545-9732 Dalangin and Ancheta* JSET Vol.6, 2018 temperature required over a specific period eggs. Incubation is the process of assisting for the eggs’ development. In domestic fowls, the development of a fertilized egg from an the act of sitting on the eggs to incubate embryo to a live chick at the right time by them is called brooding. In most poultry providing such factors such as heat, humidity, species, body heat from the brooding parent ventilation, and turning of the eggs (Boleli et provides the constant temperature. The al., 2016). humidity is also critical because if the air is The developed solar poultry egg incubator too dry, the egg loses too much water to the of Bolaji (2008) used a solar collector with atmosphere, which can result in difficulties built-in thermal storage. The incubator in hatching. As incubation proceeds, the harvested a temperature of 51.8◦C to 72.4◦C, eggs will normally become lighter, and the air depending upon the solar radiation. The space within the egg will normally become incubation was maintained throughout the larger, owing to evaporation from the egg. incubating period within a temperature range (Benjamin & Oye, 2012; Ramli et al., 2015). of 37◦C to 39.5◦C, and with relative humidity Thus, the chick quality is highly influenced ranging from 58% to 71.5%. The percentage by the conditions during incubation that has of fertility and hatchability of the eggs were a significant impact on subsequent chicks’ 85% and 78.5%, respectively. The works performance. The embryo’s temperature has of Irtwange (2003) and Ahiaba et al., (2015) a significant influence on the embryo’s researched on passive solar heating for development and chick performance. poultry chick brooding. The percentage Embryonic development is a continuous fertility and hatchability recorded were 74.4% process that can roughly be divided into three and 73.1%, respectively, with 21 days as the different phases: differentiation, growth and incubation period. It showed that the solar maturation (Molenaar et al., 2013; Othman et energy application is a sustainable energy al., 2014). Differentiation of organs occurs in supply for poultry production. the first days of incubation, while the growth Several sources of energy such as and maturation of the organs occur in the later kerosene-based systems, generators or phases of development. Each of these phases the combination were used by poultry requires specific incubating conditions. As the farmers to power incubators in rural areas. embryo grows, its metabolic rate increases, Different types of small-scale poultry egg and this is accompanied by increased heat incubators with different heat sources have production (Boleli et al., 2016). An incubator been developed. One of these includes a is an apparatus that is used to provide kerosene powered incubator (Adewumi et these environmental conditions, such as al., 2008). The use of kerosene systems can temperature and humidity, which have to be lead to fire outbreak and is known to produce controlled. toxic gases which are harmful to the eggs, An artificial incubator is a chamber in which poultry and poultry farmers (Okonkwo et al., temperature, humidity and ventilation are 2012). The hurricane lantern incubator of controlled to hatch a relatively large number Abiola, et al., (2008) and the non-thermostatic of eggs than a single hen can handle at a controlled electric incubator of Ogunwande et time (Sansomboonsuk, 2011; Brinsea, 2014). al., (2015) were found feasible and boosted Temperature is the most important factor in the chick’s production. These electric and incubation efficiency. The heat required for diesel-based generators for egg incubators incubation is usually provided by electricity. pose technical and operational challenges Artificial incubation is favored to increase the that rural areas cannot currently deal with. production of chicks. Hatching involves the The cost of diesel fuel to reach and circulate production of day-old chicks from the parent in rural communities is very high, maybe due stock through artificial incubation of fertile to poor transport facilities, thereby resulting 68 Dalangin and Ancheta* JSET Vol.6, 2018 in the electricity generation becoming very of days to hatch. Likewise, the temperature expensive. Moreover, the use of diesel fuel and relative humidity inside the incubator were also pollutes the environment and contributes also determined. In this research work, an to the nation’s emissions of greenhouse effective egg incubator was developed based gases. The development of incubators on the ideal chicken egg hatching device powered by renewable energies such as that contained a thermometer and thermostat the solar-powered incubator is suitable for switch for controlling the optimal temperature small-scale farm and hatchery operations. and humidity. It was designed for tilting the Other types of modern commercial egg chicken eggs at an angle of 45◦ three times incubators like Adegbulugbe et al., (2013); a day, and it was able to maintain optimum Okpagu and Nwosu (2016); Shittu et al., conditions for chicken egg hatching. The (2017); Kalubarme et al., (2018); and Sanjaya advantage of this incubator machine was that et al., (2018) are heated using electricity, it was operated by solar energy system such have automatic egg turning devices, and that it could operate 24 hours without a power are equipped with automatic controls to outage. Thus, this work increased the rate of maintain the proper levels of temperature and chick production for the poultry farmers in the humidity. Their incubators can control the locality to have a sustainable economy. temperature, humidity, and eggs automatically based on modern technology nowadays using Methodology a microcontroller. The modern commercial egg incubator shows the best result for Materials hatching the eggs. The advantage of these smart incubators are: ease of controlling Table 1 shows the various materials used in and monitoring and efficiency in saving the existing and developed incubators. the farmer’s energy. As a result, these systems are better than other conventional egg Thermometer and Thermostat incubators. However, a smart incubator could face frequent power shortages which may A thermometer is a device that measures affect the efficiency of the incubator machine. temperature. A thermometer has two A backup power source is suggested for important elements: the temperature sensor the entire period of incubation to prevent such as the bulb on mercury in the glass this interruption. Thus, the study of Gbabo thermometer in which some physical change et al., (2014); Pallavi et al., (2018); and occurs with a change in temperature, plus Agbo et al., (2018), recommended that the some means of converting this physical solar energy system be used as a backup change into a numerical value (Benedict, source of electrical energy when it comes to 2009; Okpagu & Nwosu, 2016). A mercury a power outage. Solar energy is the best thermometer was used and placed below alternative energy to be used for this because the egg tray to monitor the temperature.
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