anyone use a Brinsea Mini Advance fully digital 7 egg incubator?

[wegotchickens]

Thanks, NashChic! I was wavering on what to get, but you've helped me make up my mind. Now I have to save some $ LOL.

BTW, how big is the Octagon20?
And how big is the Mini Advance?

Space is a consideration, too. Like, does the O20 come in a box too big to hide from DH for a while?

 

[bellebouche]

First hatch came earlier this evening

We've since had another, third egg is zipping. All remaining eggs have active live chicks that have pipped and are just waiting their turn it seems.

I'm keeping a blog entry updated as the hatch progresses http://bellebouche.com/blog/?p=1126 and there are more photos there. I also managed to shoot a cool 30 minute timelapse of the first egg zipping and hatching. It's quite charming - I'll post the youtube link on that page in the next day or so.

 

[princess araucana]

Great picture!!
Going to check out your blog right now...
and I want this incubator sometime soon!

 

[sportsterchick]

Oh your blog is so neat! How exciting!

 

[saddina]

The science dept. in the school uses that one for hatching thier eggs, works well but only does a few at a time.

 

[NashChic]

That is a great pic! I love how the mini advance gives such a great view of the inside.

Quote:
The box the Octa20 came in was about 18"long x 12"tall x 12"deep. Definitely small enough to shove in a closet or under a beg

 

[bellebouche]

Quote:
Yeah - that is good and you do have unrivalled visibility of the eggs as they pip'n'zip - that all changes just as soon as a chick hatches and the humidity goes into sauna territory.

... which brings me to a serious point. I had two (of 7) birds hatched at that point. As the rest hatched the humidity level was poaching the contents. There's no mechanism to vent off any excess moisture after a completed hatch or whilst it's underway - I decided to wedge a small cotton-bud under the rim at one point and this helped substantially. It's something of a design flaw I'd say as some kind of adjustable vent in the top of the unit would help take care of this.

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
The box the Octa20 came in was about 18"long x 12"tall x 12"deep. Definitely small enough to shove in a closet or under a beg

Oh, I am sooo gonna get in trouble soon

belle, sorry about the sauna effect. Maybe a very fine drill and a hole you can plug?

 

[bellebouche]

Finally, our first hatch is all done and the blog post updated .

I'm rather pleased at the 100% hatch - all present and accounted for this afternoon so it's been fun. I'll pull together a little page with a more in-depth review of the incubator.

I did mention that I'd made a short time lapse video of the first chick hatching.. that's up on Youtube now if you'd like a look


Next set of eggs go in on August 12th for an early September hatch.

 

[sportsterchick]

Thanks for sharing! It has been very interesting.

Congrats on the successful hatch!

Two weeks til mine hatch out of the brinsea, can't wait!