Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance EX with automatic Humidity Pump and Trader Joe eggs

[scflock]

Thank you. The poor thing is so lonely in there.

By the way, do you find that the hatches in the Brinsea are slower than other incubators? With my LIttle Giant, I would have had 6 chicks running around by now.

Good luck with your new load

I did have a slow hatch on my first go around. I've dropped my humidity a little this time. The pips looked a little close to the end. Are you running the cool-down? I'm getting my humidity right, then will try the cool-down. I will be hatching with this for years, so I'm keeping notes on everything

 

[BathrobeGardner]

UPDATE: 19 (out of 24) chicks have hatched so far (9 out of 11 Trader Joe eggs, all 8 of the eggs from my flock and 2 out of the 5 my friend gave to me). I did a quick water test and the remaining 2 TJ eggs are still alive and 1 from my friend's eggs is also still kicking, I think the other two will not make it. They are small dark eggs and I was never able to candle them.

But YAY I am not complaining at all. Well done Brinsea. I'm so pleased with the TJ eggs and if the hens are anything like Miracle (my only surviving TJ egg from my Little Giant hatch), I will be swimming in eggs LOL. Here are some pictures. They are all hiding under the Brinsea Ecoglow so it was hard getting pictures. I love the Ecoglow but I do wish the plastic was clear so you can see the chicks. I really love looking at them as they are so fascinating to me. Now I'm kind of missing my old heat lamp

 

[BathrobeGardner]

I did have a slow hatch on my first go around. I've dropped my humidity a little this time. The pips looked a little close to the end. Are you running the cool-down? I'm getting my humidity right, then will try the cool-down. I will be hatching with this for years, so I'm keeping notes on everything

I did run the cooling down feature but only after I candled at the 7 day mark. I don't plan to use the feature for my next incubation just to see what the difference will be. When my Buff is sitting on her eggs, she never gets up for a hour a day - 10 mins at most - and she's back to her eggs. The cooling down feature's minimum time is 1 hour. I am presuming that is why the hatch seems slow (although today is really only day 22 - I think I should take some "chill down" pills LOL).

Question: How do you clean the incubator? It is covered in down feathers and the plastic is almost completely covered.

 

[taymar's flock]

20 out of 24 is fantastic!! I cannot wait to see how my hatch goes with my new Brinsea. You have made me very optimistic about its' success.

 

[BathrobeGardner]

20 out of 24 is fantastic!! I cannot wait to see how my hatch goes with my new Brinsea. You have made me very optimistic about its' success.

Good luck. I am sure you will be successful also. I have bought some more TJ eggs just to be sure my first experience was not a fluke. Let me know how your hatch goes.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

Thanks for posting this thread!

I had originally wanted this incubator, but hubby and I decided that it was too expensive for our first go. I am pleased with your results and feel confident that we may buy one eventually.

Props to trader joes. Those are FRESH EGGS! Who'd a thunk it?!

I bought a Janoel and I am calibrating the temp right now. It's nerve racking getting ready to hatch by incubator! I will do a similar thread to chart my progress.

Thanks again. This was a great thread!

April
Heron's Nest Farm

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

FINAL UPDATE:  One more TJ egg hatched overnight.  I did another float test and there was no movement from the other 2 eggs that had shown signs of life yesterday.  I opened them up and both were fully formed chicks but had died without pipping at all .  The other 2 dark eggs had died sometime halfway but because I couldn't see them when I candled, I didn't know.  Anyway, 20 out of 24 (especially with TJ eggs) was a fantastic experience.  I have cleaned my Brinsea and I am ready to go again LOL.  Happy hatching everyone.

Congratulations on 20/24 that is a fantastic hatch. Enjoy your babies and good luck for the next time. So pleased that the Brinsea has worked well for you!

 

[BathrobeGardner]

Thanks for posting this thread!

I had originally wanted this incubator, but hubby and I decided that it was too expensive for our first go. I am pleased with your results and feel confident that we may buy one eventually.

Props to trader joes. Those are FRESH EGGS! Who'd a thunk it?!

I bought a Janoel and I am calibrating the temp right now. It's nerve racking getting ready to hatch by incubator! I will do a similar thread to chart my progress.

Thanks again. This was a great thread!

April
Heron's Nest Farm

My pleasure. Good luck with your hatch and I look forward to reading about your experience.

 

[FridayYet]

I just ordered the Advance with the humidity pump. It's so dry here and our home fluctuates in temperature, so I wanted an incubator I didn't have to hover over all the time.

Other threads talk about problems setting up the humidity pump. Any problems here? Thanks! I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions once It gets here.

 

[BathrobeGardner]

I just ordered the Advance with the humidity pump. It's so dry here and our home fluctuates in temperature, so I wanted an incubator I didn't have to hover over all the time.

Other threads talk about problems setting up the humidity pump. Any problems here? Thanks! I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions once It gets here.

Congrats on your purchase. I definitely had problems setting up myself and not much sympathy from the Brinsea customer service but, once I set up the first one, I had no problems setting up the next one. It is a little tricky and I wish Brinsea would make a how-to video.

That being said, I absolutely love it. It is "set it and forget it" and you will definitely enjoy having it. If you have any problems, send me a private email and I will give you my phone number and "walk" you through it.