A Life Saver . . . Preventing homesteading losses Do It Yourself style

I started breeding game birds, chickens and ducks many years ago as a hobby, which later turned into a full time farming / homesteading business

Its a wonderful lifestyle and as any farmer will tell you its not an easy one
In this particular type of farming, electricity supply is as vital as a good water supply. Animals and birds can survive a day or two without water. Not so without electricity

Even a few hours without power can kill off hundreds of chicks and even larger quantities of incubating eggs. Creating heavy losses

The solution?

Easy. Buy a generator. . .

Well yes, but that's only solving half of the problem, as I soon found out

I woke up one winters morning and switched on my bedside light. No electricity. No problem. I have a solution!

I dressed quickly and connected up my generator which I had mounted on an old discarded lawnmower chassis - thus saving myself around R500 for a trolley, that is around $34! Old mower chassis are wonderful things for transporting your feed bags and other heavy items too!

With the generator purring I checked the incubator. The temperature had dropped to around 20 degrees Centigrade! Way below the required 37,5 Centigrade and the humidity had rocketed

I then started a long and fruitless search for a device which would trigger an alarm when the power failed

I finally found a company which could supply such an item, the only problem was that it cost almost as much as the generator did!

I had two choices. Loose more eggs and chicks or make one myself. Not easy when you know zip about electronics! I then drove the city flat trying to find an electrical company that could supply the components and had the knowledge of how to put it together!

See the first picture . . . You thought I had forgotten its title?

I made one up successfully and got to thinking that I should market them

The beauty of these devices is that they can be plugged into ANY plug in the house and it will sound. Providing that the incubator or DEEP FREEZE or any other unit that needs to be covered is on the same electrical distribution board

I made three models
A buzzer for indoor use. A louder one, a mini siren. And an exterior weather proof unit for really long distance warning

I will post a blog early next week on how to make these units yourself.

Look out for it!

Believe me its really easy. And the only tools you need are a screwdriver and soldering iron!!!