RAWiki - User contributions [en]

User:Ohbejoyous

2015-02-09T03:58:58Z

Ohbejoyous:

Hi, I'm '''Ohbejoyous''', aka Joy Houssney, mother of [[André Houssney]], the founder of [[Jacob Springs Farm]] and the [[RAWiki:About|RAWiki]] project.

Cooking and enjoying [[Jacob Springs Farm]] food is very enjoyable to our family. Zeffy, André's youngest brother, cooked some wondrous
lamb chops for his family and me last Friday. Gorgeous! Having taught English most of my life and having edited quite a lot of articles, I am
considered somewhat of a grammar nazi/enforcer in our family circle. if you need something on RAWiki edited, feel free to contact me. Read
André's other materials too. Always thoughtful and usually helpful, like [[Knowing God]].

User:Ohbejoyous

2015-02-09T03:58:26Z

Ohbejoyous:

Hi, I'm '''Ohbejoyous''', aka Joy Houssney, mother of [[André Houssney]], the founder of [[Jacob Springs Farm]] and the [[About:RAWiki|RAWiki]] project.

Cooking and enjoying [[Jacob Springs Farm]] food is very enjoyable to our family. Zeffy, André's youngest brother, cooked some wondrous
lamb chops for his family and me last Friday. Gorgeous! Having taught English most of my life and having edited quite a lot of articles, I am
considered somewhat of a grammar nazi/enforcer in our family circle. if you need something on RAWiki edited, feel free to contact me. Read
André's other materials too. Always thoughtful and usually helpful, like [[Knowing God]].

Henmulator

2015-02-09T03:57:19Z

Ohbejoyous:

[[Image:HenMulator.jpg|thumb|[[Jacob Springs Farm|Jacob Springs]] and [[Agronomo]]'s prototype '''[[Henmulator]]''' [[arduino]] controlled incubator]]

The '''Henmulator''' (''hen emulator'') is [[Agronomo]] and [[Jacob Springs Farm]]'s [[incubation|incubator]] for Jacob Springs [[Jacob Springs Farm#Meat|poultry programs]]. It was the inaugural project to incorporate open source hardware and software into useful farm devices.

==Earlier versions==
Mike Soltys' engineering class at the University of Colorado created the first version of the henmulator - [https://github.com/MathHeads/Engineeringprojects/tree/master/pictures found here]. It was a plywood box with an arduino system controlling temperature and turning off the [[incubation#rolling devices| egg turner]] after 18 days of [[incubation]]. The project was never entirely working but it was an important step in developing the henmulator.

==Enclosure==

[[image:HenmulatorEnclosureDrawing.jpg|thumb|drawing of freezer that became the henmulator]]

The henmulator enclosure is an old upright freezer that stopped working a few months before the henmulator project began. It's internal volume is around 16 cubic feet (450 li) It was modified by removing the built-in shelves, cutting a window and vents into the door and re-trimming the interior of the door, painting the door yellow and adding draw latches. The latches were added because the door failed to seal after it was modified. [[Andre Houssney|Andre]] recommends ''not'' removing the magnetic seal of freezers while modifying them because it's difficult to reinstall them exactly flat making a good seal difficult. (This particular freezer door, however, had prior issues with the seal being fully shut anyway.)

==Working parts==

===Temperature controls===
The henmulator heater is a bank of 5 light bulbs in a fixture that was salvaged from a dumpster in a demolition site. It was re-wired so that two sets of two bulbs function in series. Equipped with 100 watt incandescent bulbs the total wattage is 300 watts since four bulbs (the ones in series) are operating at half power and one at full power. If any one of the bulbs burns out the wattage is reduced to 200 watts and if any two burn out the wattage will be 100 watts. ''See also [[incubation#bulbs in series]]

===Air circulation===
Two 110v fans salvaged from microwave ovens circulate the air in the Henmulator, on at each end of a duct that pulls air from the (inside) top of the enclosure and pushes it out at the bottom across the heating element. [[Andre Houssney|Andre]] estimates that one fan would probably suffice.

===Humidity controls===
The Henmulator as originally built was equipped with a home humidifier purchased at a thrift store that was controlled by the [[arduino]] via a relay. Plans are in process to replace this with a USB powered floating humidifier purchased online for less than $10, the advantage of this is that it makes the relay unneeded, although there are concerns about longevity.

===Rotation===

===Electrical wiring===

===Control system===

The control system uses an arduino pro mini with a HTU21D humidity and temperature sensor and two relays. one relay controls the heater and the other controls the humidifier.

==Arduino Code==

The arduino code for the first working version of the henmulator can be found at the [https://github.com/agronimo/incubator/blob/master/program/program.ino agronimo github page]

Jacob Springs egg program

2015-02-09T03:51:56Z

Ohbejoyous:

[[image:Twoeggs.jpg|thumb| On the right is a "free-range, organic" egg from the grocery store, on the left, one raised at home.
The quality difference is visible and is due to the much higher nutrient content of a egg raised where chickens are being fed a much more varied and interesting diet than is practical on a commercial scale. ]]

One of [[Jacob Springs Farm]]'s most popular [[programs]] is the self-serve egg bin on the farm. Eggs can be purchased from the egg bin, which is simply an old chest freezer, at any time, however, eggs are only added to the bin Monday through Saturday at around 8:30am. Frequently, eggs are sold out within a few hours of being placed in the bin.

Eggs are sold for $10 per dozen. Egg buyers are encouraged to bring their old, empty cartons when the come to buy eggs.

==Care and feeding of our egg flock==
Our hens are fed a wide variety of foods, most salvaged from pre-consumer waste from a local organic burrito factory and waste produce from a local organic grocery department. A small amount of [[Fehringer Farms]]' organic, no-corn, no-soy layer feed is occasionally fed supplementally. In winter, when few forages are available, hens are often penned in the barnyard, here they assist in the [[composting program]] as cheep labor employed to turn and scratch through the pile. ''see'' [[composting with hens]]

Spring, Summer and Fall, they live on the [[Jacob Springs eggmobile]], out at pasture. The egg mobile follows the [[rotational grazing|grazing rotation]] of the cows, picking out the insect larvae hatched from eggs laid into the manure and scratching and distributing the manure to get at the organic [[millet]] fed to the cows for this purpose.

==Breeds==
Each year we rotate between starting chicks of one of three large bodied breeds of brown egg laying chicken, [[Black Australorp]], [[Barred Rock]], and [[Cinnamon Queen]] with a smattering of dark egg laying [[Welsummer]] and green-egg-laying [[Easter-egger]]s sprinkled in for variety. Each year we focus on one of these breeds for replacement of the older hens of that breed, who are [[ushering|ushered]] into our [[Jacob Springs spent hen program| spent hen program]] as soon as the young of that breed are about to start laying, in this way we can immediately tell the age of the hen by her color and we can easily cycle our flock without unproductive, older hens overstaying their time. We retain eggs of a particular breed for [[incubation]] and hatching in out [[Henmulator]] incubator the summer before they are slated for the cooking pot.

Jacob Springs egg program

2015-02-09T03:50:50Z

Ohbejoyous:

[[image:Twoeggs.jpg|thumb| On the right a "free-range, organic" egg from the grocery store. On the right, one raised at home.
The duality difference is visible and is due to the much higher nutrient content of a home grown egg where chickens are being fed a much more varied and interesting diet than is practical on a commercial scale. ]]

One of [[Jacob Springs Farm]]'s most popular [[programs]] is the self-serve egg bin on the farm. Eggs can be purchased from the egg bin, which is simply an old chest freezer, at any time, however, eggs are only added to the bin Monday through Saturday at around 8:30am. Frequently, eggs are sold out within a few hours of being placed in the bin.

Eggs are sold for $10 per dozen. Egg buyers are encouraged to bring their old, empty cartons when the come to buy eggs.

==Care and feeding of our egg flock==
Our hens are fed a wide variety of foods, most salvaged from pre-consumer waste from a local organic burrito factory and waste produce from a local organic grocery department. A small amount of [[Fehringer Farms]]' organic, no-corn, no-soy layer feed is occasionally fed supplementally. In winter, when few forages are available, hens are often penned in the barnyard, here they assist in the [[composting program]] as cheep labor employed to turn and scratch through the pile. ''see'' [[composting with hens]]

Spring, Summer and Fall, they live on the [[Jacob Springs eggmobile]], out at pasture. The egg mobile follows the [[rotational grazing|grazing rotation]] of the cows, picking out the insect larvae hatched from eggs laid into the manure and scratching and distributing the manure to get at the organic [[millet]] fed to the cows for this purpose.

==Breeds==
Each year we rotate between starting chicks of one of three large bodied breeds of brown egg laying chicken, [[Black Australorp]], [[Barred Rock]], and [[Cinnamon Queen]] with a smattering of dark egg laying [[Welsummer]] and green-egg-laying [[Easter-egger]]s sprinkled in for variety. Each year we focus on one of these breeds for replacement of the older hens of that breed, who are [[ushering|ushered]] into our [[Jacob Springs spent hen program| spent hen program]] as soon as the young of that breed are about to start laying, in this way we can immediately tell the age of the hen by her color and we can easily cycle our flock without unproductive, older hens overstaying their time. We retain eggs of a particular breed for [[incubation]] and hatching in out [[Henmulator]] incubator the summer before they are slated for the cooking pot.

User:Ohbejoyous

2015-02-09T03:22:49Z

Ohbejoyous:

Hi, I'm '''Ohbejoyous''', aka Joy Houssney, mother of [[André Houssney]], the founder of [[Jacob Springs Farm]] and the [[RAWiki]] project.

Cooking and enjoying [[Jacob Springs Farm]] food is very enjoyable to our family. Zeffy, André's youngest brother, cooked some wondrous
lamb chops for his family and me last Friday. Gorgeous! Having taught English most of my life and having edited quite a lot of articles, I am
considered somewhat of a grammar nazi/enforcer in our family circle. if you need something on RAWiki edited, feel free to contact me. Read
André's other materials too. Always thoughtful and usually helpful, like [[Knowing God]].

User:Ohbejoyous

2015-02-09T03:20:53Z

Ohbejoyous: Created page with "Hi, I'm '''Ohbejoyous''', aka Joy Houssney, mother of André Houssney, the founder of Jacob Springs Farm and the RAWiki project. Cooking and enjoying Jacob Spri..."