AHHH- Brinsea 20 ECO lockdown-NEED ANSWER QUICK!!!!

[HenThymes]

I just put my eco20 into lockdown but it is slap full with 24 eggs. Do they have room to hatch?? I am just not seeing the extra space. Please advise.

 

[paddock36]

My homemade incubator barely has room for any more than 24 eggs. Somehow they find room. I think you will be fine.

 

[chicken stalker]

think of it as a hen sitting on top...not much room there either but they manage.

 

[HenThymes]

Thank you, I am already starting to feel alittle more at ease. I can even already see one of my Buff Rocks just a rockin'!

 

[chels23]

It will get really crowded, but they will have enough room. I have to admit though that I did take the first couple chicks some of the big egg pieces out. I then added more water to help with the humidity.

 

[HenThymes]

How do I add more water to up the humidity during lockdown? I have one bantam chick that has what few feathers are sticking out of his zipped shell drying already and he is not out yet. It says humidity is down to 65%, how can I get more water in without disrupting everything? Should this chick still be able to get all the way out at 65%?

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

Quote:
I hatch in my Brinsea Eco at 60%, so you should be fine. Once more chicks start zipping the humidity will go up.

 

[JordanFamily]

I use fish tank tubing and feed it through the vent whole to wet a small athletic sock I keep in there for when I need to up the humidity... I did also cheat and drill a whole in the side that runs fish tank tubing to both the water wells so I don't have to open it at all during the whole incubation period... Of coarse doing this might void the guarantee on it but it seems to work alot better and easier like this for me...

 

[Ridgerunner]

This sounds like your first time. Use it as a learning experience and try to follow the usual recommendations, especially the ones that should have come with your incubator. Observe your humidity. Watch how long it takes from pip to zip and how long it takes them to dry off once they hatch. See how long it takes for the hatch to be complete, from the first one to the last. Notice if they are hatching early or late. If you set them on a Monday they should hatch that same time of day on a Monday. Hatching is a process where they pip, they rest, they zip, they eventually kick off the shell, they rest, then move around, eventually they dry off. If they are more than a day early or a day late, you probably should adjust your temperature a half a degree or so next time. Odds are things will go pretty well this hatch, but you might see something that needs to be tweeked next time.

Once they start hatching you will probably see the humidity go up enough and stay high enough to worry you. That is normal and natural. 65% was plenty high enough for my first one to hatch, and once they started, my humidity in my 1588, not the Brinsea, quickly jumped up to 85% and stayed there. Don't open it, not your first hatch. Get some experience doing it the way you are supposed to before you start experimenting. And do an eggtopsy on the unhatched eggs afterwards.

Chicks are put in boxes and mailed out from hatcheries the day they hatch. They arrive alive and well 2 and often 3 days later. Mama hens will keep their chicks in the nest from when the first one hatches until the last one dries off in a normal hatch. You have at least 48 hours and probaly more after the first one hatches before you need to open the incubator. Expect the chicks to knock the unhatched eggs all over the place. Don't be surprised to see a chick laying with its head in a half egg shell, wet and stretched out and looking like it is dead. It is not dead, it is just resting.

I'm not saying everything will go perfect for you the first hatch. Mine certainly did not but I had 17 out of 27 hatch with 4 clears. Since I went with the basic standard recommendations, I know what I will adjust next time to try to improve my next hatch.

Good luck with your hatch. I really hope it goes well. And I know it is exciting and stressful. You can manage.

 

[HenThymes]

Quote:
Thank you for your advise and thoughts, this is actually my second season but last year I used LG styros and did not have great success. This year I wasn't going to hatch at all having a newborn but got "chick fever" so I upgraded to a Brinsea Octa 20 ECO. After reading your post and am feeling much more like I am much on the right track. Despite many saying they used digital therms with the eco20 I choose to go by the glass therm installed in the brinsea. It ran right at 99.5 thru most of the incubation. Right toward the end a few days before lockdown I decided to up it just a tad by one degree(per the glass thermometer reading). Out of 25 eggs set only 1 didn't make it to lockdown and that one happen to not be fertile. So even being my first go round with a brinsea 24 eggs have thrived all the way thru! I am right on schedule for hatching too. We set at 11:30 pm on Monday night the 29th and yeah, today is a Monday and have had just one chick hatch half a day early. All others are starting to crack and a couple are starting to zip a bit and I've heard a couple of pips so I should have more chicks later this evening - hopefully.. I am very happy with the judgment I have chosen to use with the brinsea and this hatch.

As for the humidity, we did take a syringe and add just a squirt of extra warm water this morning and shortly after the chick was able to make his way out of his shell. Now with the chick it seems to be running in the low 80's but will probably drop just a tad as the day goes on into the 70's??

I do have just one egg that I see has started to open toward the wrong end, not experienced that before so not sure that one will be a survivor?? Thank you again for your thoughts.