PC sucks. The girls give ya what ya want to hear, scflock gives ya what ya needI think I covered that with an emoticon...;-]
Let's just say I was seeing the Brinsea as Sir Lancelot and only needed the spot check to look at Mordred, the Styro.
I am running them both at 98.5F, which is a number intended to create a wet bulb temperature at my altitude. The set temperature coupled with my desired humidity (60%) should achieve a wet bulb temperature that is ideal. Its not as simple as saying this temp and humidity will recreate 99.5F in my area...but that's the idea.
Not a problem, I like multi-quotes, and thanks for popping in, anyone is welcome...
Oooh, that's a good one, hadn't thought of rotating the egg trays. I had already decided I was going to open the Brinsea every day to top up the wells, so I think I will turn the trays every day also. Don't you think it would be a good feature for Brinsea to give you a button that leveled the bator on demand?
I agree, they are older eggs. I have every egg labeled, dated, and weighed...and they have been put into the bator according to their age so the older eggs have gotten an extra 30 minutes for each day they are old. Its what I had to set, I could have simply sold them as food eggs, but hey, I have only ever tried 10 day old eggs so I thought what the heck. 51 of the 80 eggs are 10 days old or less, so they don't represent the majority.
As for laying on their side, I had 44 in my Brinsea at lockdown during my last hatch, and, well, you just can't lay 44 eggs on their side in that bator. Besides, there is no way a broody hen keeps eggs on any end, let alone fat side up, so that just isn't coming close to what nature does. Maybe there's a better hatch rate when you improve on nature, but most bird eggs have been this shape longer than practically any other life on the planet...;-]
Well, firstly, I think I only mentioned the humidity alarm once...
I did fill the wells at one point, only to find that I had put just a little too much in and next thing there was water all over the place. I'm not complaining, but they could put a line in there...;-]
The 99.5F temperature is a misnomer. As I mentioned about wet bulb, we are not setting a dry temperature. I even realized that the temperature settings in the University of California paper were set to their altitude, which could have been anything. They aren't guidelines IMO. What's your altitude @scflock ? I am working with a lower temperature and a higher humidity this time. At worst, my hatch will be delayed, but given all of my other hatches have been early, having the majority of hatches on Day 21 would be a good thing this time. I am still going to candle and weight on Day 7, Day 10, and Day 18. That will tell me whether I have severely retarded weight loss.
As far as dropping temperature after lockdown, as the chicks hatch they definitely give off heat of their own. You say the Brinsea can accommodate that other source of heat, ok, you are probably right. Since this time I will not be altering the temperatures in the Janoel but will be in the Brinsea, I may get to see the difference in results. I'm hoping that my temperature altering experiment in the Brinsea will make it have the better hatch rate.
I like you @scflock , you shoot from the hip. So many are so worried about being PC its nice to see others who are just happy being themselves.
Seriously, though, I have fun posting with you. You fascinate me because you could run circles around me with your business plan, spreadsheets, hacking of my account, etc... but you are feeding your chickens scratch. You are just a very complex person. You have the savant down pat, I'm just here to help with the other part
Ok, now down to the serious stuff. I feel qualified to comment on this because your incubator is exactly the same as mine, yours is just two of them welded together. I agree about the auto leveler. That would be a great feature. I also agree about the line in the water wells, but just don't fill them all the way. Whether they are full to the top, half full, or 1/4 full, your humidity will remain constant. Surface area determines humidity, not volume, so no need to top the wells every day. I fill mine 3/4 full to get my humidity to 40-42%. I check the humidity every day. When I come home from work and it has dropped below 30%, I add water again. Humidity for the first 18 days is just a target average. Highs of 48 and lows of 25 are fine, as long as my average stays around 42.
Altitude doesn't affect me. I'm at 850ft, but I don't know that altitude was the biggest problem with your early hatches, it was the high temperatures. Maybe I'm oversimplifying it, but isn't 99.5 degrees just 99.5 degrees? Even at higher altitude? You said you were running around 102. That's why you had early hatches. It's just odd how you overanalyze some things, and totally ignore others. Like I said, you fascinate me.
Yes, I have read that chicks generate heat. BFD
About laying eggs flat at lockdown: I don't. No, a broody doesn't hatch eggs upright, but I do. I pull out the rails at lockdown and let the eggs settle as they fall. No lie, the most upright hatch with the least amount of difficulty. I don't have a good explanation why, but that's how it goes. As a matter of fact, I will leave clear eggs in just to take up enough space to keep them at a 45 degree angle or more, then pull them out when I pull out the chicks. People also say the Brinsea is too small to hatch a full load. BS. The underside of a broody is pretty cramped, too. I will attach 2 pics. The first is to show how upright my eggs are at lockdown, the second is to show what a full hatch looks like inside the unit
Ok, so maybe not 45 degrees, but you get the idea. This was the only lockdown picture I had, and the polish eggs were smaller. I would have no qualms hatching totally vertical
This is 21 chicks inside an Octagon 20, along with the eggs they hatched from and 4 unhatched
Edit: See the 2 rubbery red wires that run in a square around the fan? Those are the heating elements
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