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

[immyjay54]

I have 11 healthy chicks this morning! Two eggs are still in-but only one is pipped. The other two chicks were deformed.

Both had their intestines on the outside of their bodies. One died after pipping, the other I took care of. I have never had that happen before. So, out of 15 eggs, 14 pipped and 11 hatched. I am very pleased! That is the best I have ever done!

Where are you located? Also, is your vent on top open or closed? Remember, SURFACE AREA is what raises the humidity, not depth of water.

That is just great. I'm really happy for you. About the same % as my last one was. 13 eggs, 3 were infertile and 10 hatched out 10 healthy babies now 4 weeks old today. lol
Jim

 

[jmc]

Well, i am on day three now with another setting of 48 eggs (i have 3 O20E s). Since Nov 12 I have hatched out 141 beautiful baby chicks. Actually, i hatch in a hova 1588. I am still learning, of course, with all this incubation stuff. But at least my experience so far is that the O20E is really good..........and to think ours only cost 100.00 each. They have already quite paid for themselves! I keep selling baby chicks!

i saved money and didn't bother with the turner. i like to be involved in the process a bit. i must also add that i find the O20E a visually appealing unit. Looks really nice filled with eggs!

I am very glad 'my' thread has had such a long life; and i hope it continues...'forever', let us say

 

[jmc]

I am getting ready to set some eggs in my new incubator. We set it up last night and it has been running steady at 99.4 with 45%RH. I am just curious about a few things.

My neighbor who just had a not so successful hatch in her LG bator gave me 23 eggs to put in for her as a first hatch. These are all from her barnyard mix. I candled them last night and several had cracks or were way to porous, one was very oddly shopped and had some ridges in it. Those didn't make it to the tray. I ended up with 18 eggs that are in the tray. I have three rows of six eggs. There is a small space at the end of each row. I noticed on some of the pictures on this thread that it looks like people put some paper towel or tissues in that space. Do I need to do this? I kind of tilted the tray back and forth to mimic the movement and the eggs didn't fall over to that empty side? Does doing this mess with humidity as the tissue/paper towel absorbs the humidity and becomes wet? I have the automatic humidity pump with my incubator. Any other advice or input?

TIA!!!

Aha, I see you do not actually have the O20E bator,which is the topic of this thread, actually.

However, I never add any spare towel, cloth, felt or whatever to absorb bumps. I even do incomplete rows without anything at the end, and the eggs don't fall over.....GENTLE NOW.....!

You don't need that stuff, unless you are tossing your bator up into the air or something! Think of what the eggs go through when the hen turns them and they topple over one another. Besides the instructions mention that a bit of 'egg rocking' is nothing to worry about. From my experience of hatching almost continuously with three O20E s for the past 6+ months, I feel I have no need to EVER add 'cushion' material...

Now let's keep those OCTAGON 20 ECO posts a-comin'

(I have repeatedly suggested that people start threads like this one for their own 'breed' of bator, but none or almost none have done so)

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

Aha, I see you do not actually have the O20E bator,which is the topic of this thread, actually.

However, I never add any spare towel, cloth, felt or whatever to absorb bumps. I even do incomplete rows without anything at the end, and the eggs don't fall over.....GENTLE NOW.....!

You don't need that stuff, unless you are tossing your bator up into the air or something! Think of what the eggs go through when the hen turns them and they topple over one another. Besides the instructions mention that a bit of 'egg rocking' is nothing to worry about. From my experience of hatching almost continuously with three O20E s for the past 6+ months, I feel I have no need to EVER add 'cushion' material...

Now let's keep those OCTAGON 20 ECO posts a-comin'

(I have repeatedly suggested that people start threads like this one for their own 'breed' of bator, but none or almost none have done so)

Thanks for the info. Sorry I posted here, guess I got excited about the octagon 20 part and didn't notice the eco.

 

[Squawkbox]

Where I live it is relatively dry plus I run a wood stove in the house, so that makes it worse. Hmm, I think the vent was open when I got that reading. I have some yellow felt, so maybe i'll do some experimenting.

How much do you all leave the vent open for the first 18 and then for lockdown?



Quote:

Where are you located? Also, is your vent on top open or closed? Remember, SURFACE AREA is what raises the humidity, not depth of water.

 

[babymakes6]

I leave the vent open all the way until lockdown, and then I close it completely.

 

[yinepu]

I am getting ready to set some eggs in my new incubator.  We set it up last night and it has been running steady at 99.4 with 45%RH.  I am just curious about a few things. 

My neighbor who just had a not so successful hatch in her LG bator gave me 23 eggs to put in for her as a first hatch.  These are all from her barnyard mix.  I candled them last night and several had cracks or were way to porous, one was very oddly shopped and had some ridges in it.  Those didn't make it to the tray.  I ended up with 18 eggs that are in the tray.  I have three rows of six eggs.  There is a small space at the end of each row.  I noticed on some of the pictures on this thread that it looks like people put some paper towel or tissues in that space.  Do I need to do this?  I kind  of tilted the tray back and forth to mimic the movement and the eggs didn't fall over to that empty side?  Does doing this mess with humidity as the tissue/paper towel absorbs the humidity and becomes wet?  I have the automatic humidity pump with my incubator.  Any other advice or input? 

TIA!!! 

 

the eggs tend to fall over if you don't put something there to help stabilize them.. paper towels work well and can be thrown out after the incubation period is over.. the paper towels don't come in contact with he water wells if they are used to stabilize the eggs.. so they would have no real bearing on humidity
HOWEVER...
I don't have the humidity pump.. so I can't say how it would work (no idea if it drips or sprays or just what).. so you would have to take that into consideration if it does drip or spray.. however if it would happen to make the paper towels wet then there should be a sensor of some sort as it's supposed to monitor humidity

 

[yinepu]

Aha, I see you do not actually have the O20E bator,which is the topic of this thread, actually.

However, I never add any spare towel, cloth, felt or whatever to absorb bumps. I even do incomplete rows without anything at the end, and the eggs don't fall over.....GENTLE NOW.....!

You don't need that stuff, unless you are tossing your bator up into the air or something! Think of what the eggs go through when the hen turns them and they topple over one another. Besides the instructions mention that a bit of 'egg rocking' is nothing to worry about. From my experience of hatching almost continuously with three O20E s for the past 6+ months, I feel I have no need to EVER add 'cushion' material...

Now let's keep those OCTAGON 20 ECO posts a-comin'

(I have repeatedly suggested that people start threads like this one for their own 'breed' of bator, but none or almost none have done so)

I've been hatching in the Brinseas for awhile and have several which were running pretty much non-stop.. I own several of them and have also sent several to the dump for being defective with frayed wires.. so it's not like I just started incubating in them last week..
for the record.. eggs CAN fall over and crack in an incomplete row and that's with the normal turning of the autoturner..... shipped eggs can also have thinner shells which CAN make them more fragile..

I've also seen broody hens break a lot of eggs.. just because Brinsea says that eggs banging around won't hurt them does not make it a fact.. along with hairline cracks.. the jarring of eggs can also cause early embryo death..

since the papertowels do not harm the egg or the hatch rate it's better to add them than to regret it later if the eggs to happen to fall.. and for the record.. even though I have been tempted to throw a few of the Brinseas against a wall.. I have never done it yet

but to each his own... add them for peace of mind or don't and risk cracked eggs or early embryo death.. the choice is up to who ever owns the bator and the eggs

 

[yinepu]

Thanks for the info. Sorry I posted here, guess I got excited about the octagon 20 part and didn't notice the eco.

no need to apologize.. Brinseas are all pretty much the same .. made by the same company and designed to hatch eggs.. many of the people who posted in this thread have owned one or more.. and not all were the eco 20's

I've owned way too many of them and several of their models .. and even though they are not my favorite bator (mainly because of defective parts, frayed wires and bad customer service) many people are happy with them

 

[chick4chix]

I'm on day 20 now- shouldn't I be seeing pips by now? Yesterday I thought I heard a chirp or two, but today jus the fan. I thought I'd wake up to at least a few pips- anything wrong? Should I open and check?



I am editing this to say, I checked another thread for others who had no pips on day 20- and they pipped AND hatched on day 21 and 22- so I guess I'll keep sitting on my hands