Protein Is Critical Infrastructure

Help us reach our goal of $25,000 to expand development of the Scrap Wood Poultry Incubator — a low-cost, off-grid incubation system designed for resource-limited and humanitarian environments.

Poultry provides:

• Reliable protein
• Household-level food security
• Small-scale income generation
• Nutritional resilience

But without access to commercial incubators or reliable electricity, poultry expansion becomes difficult.

This project focuses on building an incubator that can be constructed entirely from salvaged and low-cost materials while maintaining the precise thermal stability required for successful egg incubation.
 

Raising Funds to Build Replicable Food Systems

Nushoor Institute is a 501(c)(3) social incubator based in Buffalo, NY. We develop decentralized systems in critical sectors such as water, food, energy, and public health.

This campaign supports our collaboration with Veranda Design (verandadesign.org) to design a scrap-wood poultry incubator that can operate without grid electricity and without reliance on specialized commercial components.

The goal is simple:

Create a system that communities can build, repair, and scale themselves.

System Design

The incubator is constructed from scrap wood, forming a closed thermal chamber with capacity for approximately 300–500 eggs.

Early prototypes used:

• Styrofoam-based insulation
• Incandescent bulbs for heat generation

These components allowed rapid testing of thermal behavior using easily available materials.

Through research and testing, we identified insulation quality as the most critical factor in reducing energy demand and maintaining stable incubation temperatures.

Current development focuses on improving insulation performance using low-cost, locally available materials.
Egg incubator experiment

Heating Innovation

The project is actively exploring alternatives to traditional light-bulb heating systems, including:

• Conductive metal-based heating elements (nichrome from recycled hairdryers)
• Graphite-based heating sources (pencil-derived conductive elements)
• Simple electrochemical heating concepts using low-voltage inputs

These methods are being evaluated for:

• Safety
• Efficiency
• Replicability
• Cost
• Ease of fabrication

The objective is a heating system that is stable, affordable, and buildable from accessible materials.

Closed-Loop Energy Approach

The incubator is designed around a closed-loop energy model.

• A pedal-powered generator (bicycle-driven) charges a battery
• Stored energy powers the incubator heating system
• The system operates independently of grid electricity

This reduces reliance on fuel, minimizes operating costs, and enables continuous off-grid use.

The incubator integrates naturally into Nushoor’s broader decentralized energy ecosystem.
Egg incubator heating experiment

Current Status

A functional prototype has been built and is currently in the testing and measurement phase.

Ongoing work includes:

• Measuring heat loss across insulation configurations
• Evaluating temperature stability and efficiency
• Testing alternative heating systems for reliability and safety

The next major milestone is conducting hatch trials using fertilized eggs.

These tests will provide real-world data on:

• Hatch rates
• Energy consumption
• Thermal consistency
• System durability

All findings, design iterations, and test results are being documented with the intent to release open-source documentation for low-resource communities to replicate and improve upon.
Egg incubator insulation

Why This Matters

Food security is not only about crops.

Protein access dramatically improves:

• Child development
• Household nutrition
• Community resilience
• Economic stability

A single incubation system can multiply poultry capacity across households and camps.

This project is about enabling food systems that do not depend on fragile supply chains.

How Your Donations Will Be Used

Funds raised will support:

• Insulation material research and testing
• Heating element experimentation and safety validation
• Pedal-generator integration
• Battery and control system refinement
• Hatch trials and data collection
• Prototype improvements
• Documentation and instructional content
• Student engineer stipends

What our engineers and researchers say:
"For anyone who has a heart, and is willing to help people...Nushoor is the place to grow and a place to learn"
-Hashem Ali Badr
Architect
Sewage management

"...instead of trying to find suppliers for their tools, they can build their own"
-Taha Faek
Dental Student
3D Printed medical solutions

"the old school way of helping humanity is not working. Lots of resources are being wasted"
-Anas Shafi
Agriculture Researcher
Food security

"People around the globe have been very dependent on this aid. I remember this when I was young as well back in Afghanistan, aid was coming in, giving people what they need but it was limiting the people in these regions who are hurt and broken. What they need is how to do stuff"
-Abdullah Masoud
Mechanical Engineer
Power Team

Previous project completed due to your support!
https://youtu.be/PcDY17sg_J4