Brinsea Octagon 20 advance incubator review

[av8torcrj]

I'm on lockdown with a second set of eggs. This time I didn't use the auto turner since I'm home most all the time and wanted to try the method. I just rotated the unit periodically throughout the day. I've removed one infertile and one day 7 blood ring. Ill let y'all know how it turns out. The first hatch have all grown to be very healthy birds.

 

[av8torcrj]

Another successful hatch courtesy of the Brinsea octagon 20 advance. Twenty healthy chicks out of 24 eggs placed on 2/12/14 at 1 pm. Two eggs were infertile so lets call it 90% hatch rate. Day 7 candle revealed a blood ring and was removed. The other loss appeared to occur around day 18. That chicks head was noted at the small end of the egg upon inspection. During this hatch I did quickly pull the birds as they appeared and placed them in a brooder to avoid them rolling over the other eggs that had begun to pip. I attributed three late failures during the last hatch because the chicks were doing this. While this violates the "leave the incubator closed theory", the Brinsea design allows for rapid humidity recovery ( virtually instantly) if opened only momentarily. Further, this results in a lot less chick dander collecting in some of the difficult to reach places to clean in the incubator. I suffered no losses by my doing this.
Neither the auto turner nor the cool down function were utilized. Turning was done manually throughout the day per the design feature--rotating the entire case. Humidity levels were maintained between 40-50% till day 18 then raised to 65-70%. Again a wet paper towel was added to increase humidity during lock down. It was necessary to add water to the humidity channel approximately every 3-4 days from start to day 18.
First pip noted 6am day 20. First hatch 6 pm day 20. Last hatch 1pm day 21.
The incubator continues to work as designed and I am quite satisfied.

 

[Ariel188]

Beautiful! Thank you SO much for the detailed write up. Mine comes in the mail tomorrow so I will set my first batch of eggs ever on Sat!! Thank you again!

 

[ErniesFlock]

I am down to the final two contenders the Brinsea Octgon 20 Advance and the Incuview. Both reviews are outstanding thru posts on BYC and YouTube. This too is my first set and I am NOT buying anything made out of Styrofoam **** I wouldn't by a cooler out of Styrofoam. Anyways both units seem remarkable. The Brinsea is a lot more. I am trying hard to find a reason to reject one ... To know avail I might add. Thanks for such a detailed review probably the best review I have read... Ever. ;-)

 

[countrygoddess]

I went with the Octogon 20 with auto turner. Wow!! Last year my mouth was encircled by cold sores (gross, I know) because of the stress of worrying about my stupid foam incubators and having to constantly adjust them. The Octogon really was a "set it and forget it" incubator. I think I had to add water twice. I love how when you take the lid off to add water or inspect the eggs, the temp and humidity come back up in almost less than a minute once the lid is back on. And the temp and humidity NEVER wavered. I think perhaps my thermometer read a little higher than what the temp inside really was (I didn't put a second one in) because my eggs hatched at days 22-23, but my hatch rate was great and no cold sores!!!

 

[cheerfulchicken]

After reading many reviews on BYC and elsewhere, I bought this incubator as part of my daughter's 4-H project. Overall, it is very easy to setup and use. The temperature was spot on throughout the entire process. The humidity was great until the lock down. We struggled with maintaining it above 60% on the first day of lock down and we tried everything from adding a sponge, filling the reservoirs, adding more towels, etc. Since it was too late to buy the Octagon 20 Advance Humidity Pump, we tried to make our own (see picture). We used a humidifier and tried to pipe in the humidity through a straw. It worked, but we think we did it too late since we only had 4 out of the 9 hatch. I think we will have to invest in the humidity pump for our next hatch.

 

[av8torcrj]

Update. Had a 100% hatch on some assorted duck eggs and most recently a successful (10 out of 12 ) goose egg hatch. Of the two failures on the geese, one egg was always weird and developed no discernible air cell late in incubation. That chick pipped at the bottom of the egg and died. The other failure was a late no-pip death. This is a great little machine that works as advertised.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Wanting to revisit this to see any additional reviews on this. Is everyone that has it still happy with the results you're getting? Any cons?

 

[FellowshipFarm]

I'm looking at possibly getting my own incubator, and am wondering for a novice at hatching like myself, which of these two would be most appropriate?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UFJTJC...UTF8&colid=1L4G3UVQQGWKR&coliid=ILQTZPC6OF5KL

or

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HYEFKPA...TF8&colid=1L4G3UVQQGWKR&coliid=I1PA95PDR4V6LH

The main difference I see is the digital controls on the top and $60. Do I need the digital controls or will I do just fine without? Keeping in mind, I work 12 hour shifts several days a week and am in school, aside from hobby farm chores and the hubs.

Thanks for the great reviews written up here!

 

[av8torcrj]

I think most will tell you that humidity control is a pretty important aspect of hatching. On the digital model you can read percent humidity and adjust it very simply with the slide vent. Further, no guessing on the temps and they are readily adjusted as deemed necessary. Alarms are also a feature on the digital and I'm not sure if so on the other. I really like my digital unit and if you are going to do any sizeable amount of hatching why not spring for the extra $60 and never have to wonder if you should have upgraded. This being said, I'm sure thousands upon thousands of birds have been successfully hatched in the analog.