Setting, Candling and Transfer Procedures on Duck Tunnel Setters

This article covers how the setter and the hatcher are operated during setting, candling and transfer. Detailed candling and transfer technique is not covered here (photos still being added).

I. Core Operating Principle of Duck Tunnel Setters

Duck tunnel setters use cross-egg (staggered) setting.

Core principle: trolley movement inside the machine is one-way, from the inlet (fan side) to the outlet (display side). Think of it as a queue: each trolley enters at position 1 on the inlet side, advances one position every 5 days, and finally exits on the outlet side, where the eggs are transferred and moved to the hatcher.

Candling works as follows: a trolley leaves the queue temporarily, and when it is reloaded after candling it may not jump the queue — it has to rejoin at the very end, i.e. position 1 on the inlet (fan) side. See the “Duck tunnel cross-egg setting” animation in the visual demos.

Filling empty positions:

• Fewer than 3 positions occupied (3 not included): the machine must be filled with empty trolleys.
• 3 positions or more: the temperature field is essentially uniform, so as long as the air ducts are long enough, empty trolleys are not required.

II. Egg Trolley Setting Procedure

Whether eggs are set for the first time or reloaded after candling, the same rule applies: trolleys may only enter from the inlet side.

Short version

1️⃣ On the display, pause the fans. 2️⃣ Take the trolley temperature probe off on the inlet side and place it in its designated holder. 3️⃣ Enter the passage and disconnect the air duct on the right-hand side if necessary (skip this step if the ducts are long enough). 4️⃣ Push the trolley into position 1 and put the temperature probe back at the centre of the trolley. 5️⃣ Hang the trolley curtain and connect the air duct to the newly set trolley. 6️⃣ Restart the fans — setting is complete.

Full procedure

On the display at the inlet side, tap the fan button in the lower left corner to open the fan pause window. Tap the white time field to set a custom pause duration, then confirm with the green check mark to start the pause.

• Never: the system pops up a reminder that the fans will stay stopped and must be restarted manually, so that the pause is not forgotten.
• Fixed duration: no pop-up alarm; when less than one minute remains, the machine warns: the fan pause is about to end and the fans will restart — do not reach inside the machine. This is a normal safety warning, not a fault; silence it as needed.

After pausing the fans, open the door on the outlet side as well, so that heat does not build up inside and overheat the hatching eggs, which would cause a production incident.

Take the temperature probe off the trolley and place it in the holder on the centre post between the two doors. Handle it gently so the built-in mercury thermometer does not come loose or break.

If the machine is fitted with short air ducts, enter the passage behind the doors and disconnect the trolley duct on the right beforehand, so that pushing the trolley cannot tear the duct or its connector loose.

Open the small door beside the trolley rail so that it does not obstruct the trolley, then push the trolley smoothly into the setter. If the rear position is empty, control the pushing force and do not overshoot — the trolley is correctly positioned when its edge aligns with the three-point detection marks above.

Once the trolley is in place, put the temperature probe back in the standard position at the centre of the trolley. Return to the rear passage and connect the air duct by matching colours; hang the curtain, following the rule that the inlet-side curtain overlaps the outlet-side curtain of the trolley in front, and tuck the curtain edge into the gap between the small door and the cabinet gasket.

After confirming that the ducts, curtain and trolley position are all correct, close the passage door and the rail-side door, go back to the display on the outlet side and restart the fans manually.

Setting is usually followed by a turning alarm at position 5 (a message about the left and right catches not releasing). Open the turning check page and verify:

• Trolley icon red and tilted: a signal anomaly caused by the disturbance of setting; no action needed, it clears on the next turning cycle.
• Trolley icon red and upright: check for an unconnected air duct, a trolley that is not fully in position, or one that has been pushed too far.

If nothing is wrong, clear the alarm — the full setting procedure is complete.

III. Candling Procedure

From an equipment point of view, candling has two steps: take the trolley out at the outlet, then reload it at the inlet after inspection.

1️⃣ Take the trolley out: on the outlet side, disconnect the trolley air duct, remove the curtain, press the limit stop and push the trolley to be candled smoothly out of the setter, then close the outlet door. 2️⃣ Carry out candling. 3️⃣ Reload: when candling is finished, push the trolley back in at the setter inlet. See Egg Trolley Setting Procedure above and push the trolley in again from the inlet side.

IV. Transfer and Hatcher Procedure

Following the steps above, push the trolleys whose incubation period has ended out of the setter, transfer the eggs into hatch baskets and load them into the air-flow hatcher.

Preparation

At the end of the previous batch, the drying cabinet and the egg baskets must be washed and dried. Drying can be scheduled to avoid peak load: for example, if drying takes 4 hours and transfer is planned for 10:00, start the drying cabinet at 6:00 so that it is ready for the hatching phase without a second heat-up, saving energy.

Loading the hatcher

1️⃣ The air-flow hatcher holds one trolley of baskets, with three positions on each side; push the loaded hatch baskets smoothly into the corresponding positions. 2️⃣ After switching the machine on, tap the gear icon in the top right corner, select [Start incubation], and enter the exact time at which this batch of eggs was first set in the tunnel setter; start the incubation programme once the parameters are confirmed. 3️⃣ When the temperature has stabilised, check the built-in thermometer. If the deviation is large, take the mercury thermometer reading as authoritative and calibrate the temperature control parameters.

V. General Precautions

1. Prefer a fixed 15-minute fan pause and avoid the permanent pause whenever possible, so that a forgotten restart cannot cause heat build-up and a production accident.
2. Hang the curtains in overlapping fish-scale fashion, each curtain overlapping the next, so that the seal holds.
3. Connect air ducts strictly by colour. Never cross-connect or omit a duct — incorrect ventilation affects incubation.