THE Brinsea Octagon 20 Eco Thread; Hatches, etc. (PICS)

[Firefly89]

On this incubator is the red light supposed to be flashing? I was a little unclear when reading the manual but it sounded like flashing meant a good, stable temp?

 

[immyjay54]

your are correct. when the light isn't blinking, it is heating back up. Like when you take the lid off and put it back on. Once it reaches temp, it stops blinking. I have 18 eggs in mine right now on day 8. This is my first time of using Brinsea. Am very excited about it. Temp/humidity seems to be holding very well. Good luck to you.
Jim

 

[immyjay54]

I read in one of the previous post where one said that they added water on 1 and 18. Tomorrow will be day 14 for me. I have 18 eggs in there 15 German Line New Hampshire shipped eggs and 3 of my own. I had to add water probably 5 times already. I do have a coal furnace and that is really dry heat. I did check a few of the eggs a couple of days ago and will check them tomorrow night which will be day 14, last check they seemed to be doing very well. I am so excited trying this new Brinsea. I have two Hova Bators and sometimes I have a better hatch and sometimes nothing. It is always with shipped eggs that don't do well but my last hatch seemed to do a lot better. In my Brinsea, my glass therm that came with it, it stays at 100 and my other in the tray stays at 99. My humidity has only dropped twice but into the high 30's. It is mostly 42 to 45%. Don't know for sure if I'm going to try to hatch these in the Brinsea or not. I know I can put them in the Hova Bator and keep the humidity up around 70 for 3+ days with no problem. I really want these chicks so I may stick with that instead of trying the Brinsea for the first time with these eggs.
Tuesday will be lock down for me. I'm sure hoping for a really good hatch rate.

 

[immyjay54]

Okay folks,
I really feel that I need to post this. I bought a Brinsea 20 Eco in Dec. 2011 on sale for $99.00 After getting it, I didn't think that I would like it at all. I didn't get the turner but I think I will before I use it again. I have 2 of the Hova Bators. One is the 1632 and the other is the Genesis 1588. I have the turners for both of these. I have hatched probably 10 times in these and almost every time I had good temp and humidity but for some reason my hatches were terrible if none at all. I set 18 egg in my Brinsea 1/5/2012, I did have to turn the temp knob about 3/4 of a turn to get it to be at 99 degrees. Glass therm in brinsea was showing 100. My temp stayed between 40 and 50 but only for about 3 days at a time. I do have coal furnace for heat so that makes for dry heat. Either the end of each 3rd day or beginning of 4th day I would open and add water in one trough. I did also cut sponges and put in that trough. I would lift the tray and add water and put it right back and close it up. Within just a couple of minutes temp/humidity was fine. On day 7 I candled eggs and 3 were clear but the other 12 seemed to be doing good. 15 of the eggs were shipped and 3 were my own test eggs which always hatch. Day 18 I took the 12 of the shipped eggs that were looking good and my 3 test eggs out and put them in my Genesis 1588 for hatching. I left the 3 that I didn't think were any good in the Brinsea just in case. I added water in both troughs and laid a wet sponge in the tray and the humidity came up in the 70's. Anyway, I had 10 of the shipped eggs hatch and my 3 test eggs hatched. One chick was dead in shell with no pip etc the last one had piped but on the wrong end of the egg. It didn't do anymore either. Still, with putting 15 eggs into lock down out of 18 and 13 of those 15 hatching I feel is just pretty good. I will hopefully be getting the turner in a month or so and be trying this Brinsea out again in a few months to hatch out some of my own eggs. I can't say for sure that it was the Brinsea but I have never had a hatch this good before. I don't think I will use it for lock down because it is just a little small.
Jim

 

[jmc]

i am so proud of you, folks! glad to see the thread still alive. thought it would be long dead by now!

i will be starting another 3 - 4 dozen in mine in a few days. the remaining birds from my dec. 12 hatch (see above) will be sold today--except for a couple we will use as meaties.

 

[jmc]

Okay folks,
I really feel that I need to post this. I bought a Brinsea 20 Eco in Dec. 2011 on sale for $99.00 After getting it, I didn't think that I would like it at all. I didn't get the turner but I think I will before I use it again. I have 2 of the Hova Bators. One is the 1632 and the other is the Genesis 1588. I have the turners for both of these. I have hatched probably 10 times in these and almost every time I had good temp and humidity but for some reason my hatches were terrible if none at all. I set 18 egg in my Brinsea 1/5/2012, I did have to turn the temp knob about 3/4 of a turn to get it to be at 99 degrees. Glass therm in brinsea was showing 100. My temp stayed between 40 and 50 but only for about 3 days at a time. I do have coal furnace for heat so that makes for dry heat. Either the end of each 3rd day or beginning of 4th day I would open and add water in one trough. I did also cut sponges and put in that trough. I would lift the tray and add water and put it right back and close it up. Within just a couple of minutes temp/humidity was fine. On day 7 I candled eggs and 3 were clear but the other 12 seemed to be doing good. 15 of the eggs were shipped and 3 were my own test eggs which always hatch. Day 18 I took the 12 of the shipped eggs that were looking good and my 3 test eggs out and put them in my Genesis 1588 for hatching. I left the 3 that I didn't think were any good in the Brinsea just in case. I added water in both troughs and laid a wet sponge in the tray and the humidity came up in the 70's. Anyway, I had 10 of the shipped eggs hatch and my 3 test eggs hatched. One chick was dead in shell with no pip etc the last one had piped but on the wrong end of the egg. It didn't do anymore either. Still, with putting 15 eggs into lock down out of 18 and 13 of those 15 hatching I feel is just pretty good. I will hopefully be getting the turner in a month or so and be trying this Brinsea out again in a few months to hatch out some of my own eggs. I can't say for sure that it was the Brinsea but I have never had a hatch this good before. I don't think I will use it for lock down because it is just a little small.
Jim

glad to hear, jim, about this 'turn-around' for your hatching success. as you know, lotsa folks hatch in the oct.20 eco. you surely can; the chicks will be none the worse.

But of course, do as you feel is best! see you later!

 

[immyjay54]

glad to hear, jim, about this 'turn-around' for your hatching success. as you know, lotsa folks hatch in the oct.20 eco. you surely can; the chicks will be none the worse.

But of course, do as you feel is best! see you later!

I will definitely try a hatch in my Brinsea but I just didn't want to take a chance the first time with these eggs. They were expensive and I would rather try my first time with a couple or so of my own eggs. lol I get awful nervous when I've paid over $100.00 a dozen. I like it right now and I think after I use it a few times I will really like it. Thanks for the post.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hello everyone! I'm just going to jump in here. I have NO clue what I'm doing. I just got the Brinsea Oct 20 and I'm collecting my silkie eggs and so far only have two-- they just started laying. (I have a trio I'm collecting from) But the last several eggs we ate from them had bullseyes, so I figured I'd give it a shot! I'm 'storing' these eggs right now on my countertop, and someone told me to put the big end up. Okay, so just did that. I'm hoping in the next day or two, I'll have a few more eggs to put in the incubator and start them all together. Is this the right idea?? What about the incubator itself?? I was just planning on plugging it in and throwing them in. Do the big ends go up in there, too?? Yeah, so you can see how egg-literate I am here. Total newbie. So far, the only thing I know to do with eggs are cook them. Help!

 

[immyjay54]

Hello everyone! I'm just going to jump in here. I have NO clue what I'm doing. I just got the Brinsea Oct 20 and I'm collecting my silkie eggs and so far only have two-- they just started laying. (I have a trio I'm collecting from) But the last several eggs we ate from them had bullseyes, so I figured I'd give it a shot! I'm 'storing' these eggs right now on my countertop, and someone told me to put the big end up. Okay, so just did that. I'm hoping in the next day or two, I'll have a few more eggs to put in the incubator and start them all together. Is this the right idea?? What about the incubator itself?? I was just planning on plugging it in and throwing them in. Do the big ends go up in there, too?? Yeah, so you can see how egg-literate I am here. Total newbie. So far, the only thing I know to do with eggs are cook them. Help!

Hi Hawkeye,
If you bought your Brinsea new, there should be instructions with it as far as the way to set up the Brinsea. As for the eggs, yes you want the large end of the egg up, if you don't have enough to fill the rows, you may need to put something in there to hold them close enough together to get them to stand up. Set the Brinsea up first without your eggs to check your temp and humidity. If you don't have, you need a temp/humidity reader which can be gotten from Wal Mart. I had to add water at the end of each 3rd day to beginning of 4th day. Believe me, it seems that you learn something new with each time that you do a hatch. Experience is the best teacher. Learn from mistakes. I've made quite a few and hopefully have learned from them. lol

 

[rarely bored]

When eggs are shipped, it works best to keep the big end of the egg up in order to encourage the air cell to develop correctly. Sometimes shipping scrambles the egg. But when you are using home grown, unshaken eggs the position of the egg is not as important. I've set most of my eggs (when the incubator isn't crowded) on their sides and have had no problems. Knowing when and why you set eggs a certain way will help your over all hatching experience!

Hope your hatch goes very well!