# Customizing egg incubators for Cameroon: A design and construction guide

**Authors:** Marck Jickel Kemegne Tagne, Thomas Kanaa, Paul Etouke Owoundi, Arnaud Obono Biyobo

PMC · DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322357 · PLOS One · 2025-05-15

## TL;DR

This paper provides a guide to building an affordable and efficient automatic egg incubator using local materials in Cameroon to improve poultry farming.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a locally constructed, energy-efficient incubator optimized for Cameroonian poultry farmers.

## Key findings

- The incubator is a reliable and effective solution for hatching poultry eggs.
- The design is user-friendly, easy to maintain, and affordable for local farmers.
- Mathematical modeling improved the system's energy efficiency.

## Abstract

In Cameroon, poultry farming represents an important source of income for many families and is a key sector for economic development and food security. However, there is a deficiency in suitable infrastructure, especially high-performance and affordable incubators, leading many poultry farmers to resort to manual incubation techniques, which are often inefficient and labor-intensive. This paper aims to build an automatic incubator using locally accessible materials, optimized techniques, and modern, simple technologies. This paper also serves as a construction guide. Its initiative offers a significant opportunity to improve poultry farming practices, increase local productivity, and contribute to sustainable development. The incubator is built using the prototyping method, and the optimization of energy efficiency for the system was achieved through the mathematical modeling of heat transfer. The study’s findings indicate that the incubator is a dependable and effective solution for hatching poultry eggs. Its user-friendly design, ease of maintenance, and affordability make it an excellent choice for local poultry farmers.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** LCD (MESH:C537881)
- **Chemicals:** DHT11 (-), CO2 (MESH:D002245), water (MESH:D014867), oxygen (MESH:D010100), iron (MESH:D007501), aluminum (MESH:D000535)
- **Species:** Gallus gallus (bantam, species) [taxon 9031]
- **Mutations:** C706Q

## Full text

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## Figures

16 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12080822/full.md

## References

16 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12080822/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12080822