April 15th- New Brinsea Owner Hatch Along

[artathart]

Drum roll please........The 4/15 hatch begins in 29 mins!!!! How excited are you???

 

[cackydoodledoo]

Ok you are two hours ahead of me so mine starts in well.....2 hours and 7 minutes now. But not technically because I am not setting them till tomorrow evening!!!! How excited am I you ask???

 

[artathart]

Quote:
Where did you find that smilely???

 

[artathart]

Nevermind!

 

[artathart]

 

[daisychick]

Quote:
#1 : Just leave the incubator running and then set your eggs up. Unplug the turner while you do it so you aren't fighting it while you get your eggs all set up how you like them. I just take the lid off and set the eggs with the tray in the incubator. If you take the tray out to do it they all get messed up when you put it in the bator.

#2: I don't have that kind but I am pretty sure you just let the card thing do the work. I don't think you fill the channels with the humidity pump. I can check on that for you.

#3 : I keep my vent half way open for the entire incubation. Sometimes during the hatch I open it a little more so they get enough oxygen.

#4 : You turn off the turner cradle on day 18. I take my incubator completely off the turner and sit it on the desk so it is really stable for the hatch.

#5: If you are talking about the black rails for the eggs, then yes. When you get to that point I can help you with getting your eggs set up for lock down. I take mine out of the rails and put them in cut down egg cartons to hatch. It works great. Others lay them down on their sides to hatch.

 

[cackydoodledoo]

I took the water out of the channels because it made the humidity way too high but even then I struggled with it last night so I took the lid off and wiped all the moisture out of it and this morning Rodney checked it at 4 and I checked at 7 and the humidity is dead on 33%!!! I have a couple more questions. I know yours isn't digital but I think you can still answer these:

It allows me to set a high and low range for the temp and humidity. If it goes beyond that range it sets off the alarm. I have the humidity set for a 4% change either way and the temp I think for 2 degrees either way. Is that ok or should I set the parameters even tighter?

When I set the eggs do I set them pointy side down or on their sides?
Do I set them side by side touching?
Do I need to make sure they are pretty snug between the dividers or loose? I am worried about them rolling around too much. I can't believe how far that thing turns!!!


If anyone has a pic of your eggs all set in the bator could you post it?

 

[daisychick]

Quote:
Your humidity can range pretty low before you have to worry about it. It can go to 25% no problem. You don't want your humidity to get too high during the first 18 days because you want the egg to lose moisture so the chick has air space to hatch. The temp. range you set is good.

I set my eggs pointy side down and standing up in between the rails. They need to be touching pretty snug. I put the rails really tight against them so they don't move much. I also use wadded wax paper to fill in any gaps so they don't slam into each other when that thing tilts. I have pics I will show you.
Don't pay attention to the eggs or waxed paper stacked on top. That is just me packing as many in as I could. See how I have the rows. That is how you do it. Start with the front wall and use it as your first row. Place the eggs in and then put the rail sung against them. Then do your other row. See on the end of the row how I used the paper to keep them all in place so they didn't tip over. Set up your eggs while the tray is in the incubator. If you try to do it on the counter and then lift the tray and put it in, it gets messed up. So put the tray in the bator and start lining them up.

 

[cackydoodledoo]

Cool thank you!! That helps tremendously! Do you not use the foam in the rails or on the bottom of the tray? Mine came with foam for both????

 

[ecse129]

This is my first hatch using a Brinsea. I got the Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance classroom pack. Nine eggs just went into lockdown. (A little early because half of them were rocking already! Lockdown wasn't supposed to be until Sunday.) I LOVE my new Brinsea. I have chicken eggs in my old Little Giant and so far I am having horrible luck with it. A lot of blood rings this time around.

(I think I got a bad batch of eggs too.) My ducklings in the Brinsea are doing great though! Can't wait to see what happens!!! If you want to see our progress: http://3huntseggs.shutterfly.com/ I am hoping to get a Ustream set up for the weekend since we won't be here at school to monitor them. I will keep you all posted!