Anyone Use a Brower Incubator?

I've got a big metal Brower that I found through a friend. It's a still air incubator, so I'm thinking of using it for duck eggs. I've got duck eggs started in my Marsh Roll-X, but don't have duck grids, and it's really tough to keep the humidity up where it belongs.

Any thoughts about whether I can move these eggs? Any info on using the Brower, such as how to add humidity? I'm thinking a bowl of water and a sponge?

Any tips appreciated. I've got two Pekins laying, and would like to hatch a bunch of yellow fluff balls this year.

Oooh, I have been looking every where for one of these. I would really appreciate pictures of your wonderful find. There is supposed to be a wire rack in the incubator, and under the rack is supposed to be a small metal bowl for humidity. I have heard that these are wonderful goose egg incubators. I would try to tape or velcro a small computer fan in the top corner for air circulation. I wouldn't want to drill in such an incubator.

quintinp,

That's funny, this incubator CAME from Oklahoma! It has a little metal do-hickey that covers the wafer and the wiring in the top. I've got to get the screws to make it secure, though. I put the wafer in and fired it up today.

Underneath, there's a pressed board bottom with a metal ring and a screen that sits atop the screen. I got it in case I got some American Buff eggs, but thought I'd try it on my Pekin eggs first. Could I put a pie pan under the screen to use for humidity, do you think?

Yeah, a pie pan should work great! If you ever decide you don't want it, I could probably pay the shipping for you to send it to me.

I use mine. I'll put up some pix here. I have a few of them. The large 846 is about 21" diameter and claims to hold 100 chicken eggs. The smaller 845 is 16" diameter and holds 50 chicken eggs. A pie pan will be quite a bit larger than the original pan but should work OK. Humidity is controlled by the surface area of the water that is exposed to evaporation. This can be adjusted by covering a portion of the surface of the water with aluminum foil.
Here is the overall outside view of an 846.

Inside the top.

Inside showing the size of the original water pan. Please excuse the mess. It needs a thorough cleaning before I fire it up this spring.

Here's an original 1980 sears catalog page showing the 2 Brower tin incubators.

Back in the day Brower offered a turning ring quite similar to the Turn-X incubator set-up. An outside lever allowed you to turn all the eggs at once. I mark the eggs with Xs and Os and hand turn 3 times a day.
I have the operating and parts manuals for these saved on files on my computer. Anyone needing or wanting a copy can pm me their email address and I will be happy to send off a copy.

Yeah, I have only seen the turning ring ONCE, it is a rare thing that not many people got. I really want to find a brower incubator with the turning rack.

Yes, I have the 846. It's a BIG monster with 3 windows in the top. I've got it up in my study, trying to get the temps right before I move the eggs.

I would LOVE to see what the turner looks like. I'd like to fabricate one, if possible.

Here's my Brower 845. I'm on Day 9 with shipped silkie eggs. Because of the still-air, I've found it's best to base temperatures on 2 thermometers. One sits on the floor with the eggs and a 2nd (reptile thermometer with probe) lays across the top of the eggs. There is often a 3 degree difference in temperature. Good luck with yours.

Cali, nice to see another one in use. I have a suggestion fwiw. As you know in the still air environment of that brower there are temperature variations. There is an especially cool spot below the end of the heating element where it emerges from the tin shield in the top. In the interest of all the eggs receiving the same amount of heat I like to arrange them like this with the lid placed so the mentioned cool spot is at the bottom of the photo. Lined up like this makes the turning easier for me too. First they all go half a turn to the left, then half turn to the right etc etc.
db

dbcooper02 said:

Cali, nice to see another one in use. I have a suggestion fwiw. As you know in the still air environment of that brower there are temperature variations. There is an especially cool spot below the end of the heating element where it emerges from the tin shield in the top. In the interest of all the eggs receiving the same amount of heat I like to arrange them like this with the lid placed so the mentioned cool spot is at the bottom of the photo. Lined up like this makes the turning easier for me too. First they all go half a turn to the left, then half turn to the right etc etc.

Click to expand...

I tried to find a thread about this bator before starting, but only found auctions for them! So, I just regulated temp and decided it was sink or swim. One mistake I made was trying out egg cartons for a day...It made the eggs too tall and the heat-box corner poked one of the eggs on Day 3. It cracked the shell and made a hole through both inner and outer membranes so I knew it needed to be removed. I was sick and angry with myself when I peeled off the cracks and saw a beautiful, developing embryo.

Thank you for the tip. Do you mean the part under the "orange light" and round "window"? This is always cool to the touch on top. I've realized there are hot and cool spots. The first few days I was actually rotating the lid about 1/3 every 15 minutes. Lately I've got the eggs sort of in the same area, just not in a fan shape. I look forward to re-organizing them in the fan shape tonight. Hmmmm, I've got one questionable egg that may just be less developed because it was in a cool spot. Is it OK for the eggs to be directly under the heating bars like that top row is in your photo?