Brinsea 190, & other cabinet incubators, Positives & negatives please

[k2chickens]

just got my tax return....

Now the dream of owning the 190 is close to a reality. But as of now i don't think they are offering any specials on them. I saw a few of you got free humidity pumps on top of 10% off. That is awesome and i would love to get those discounts, but im not sure when and if they will ever do that again. Hopefully they didn't offer thoe's discounts because they are making a new model or something like that and wanted to clear out the warehouse.Also heard they were making or have already made a new humidity pump to replace the old model one, have no clue if that is true or not just read it on here a while back. I have been looking all over on where to order one from, brinsea, cutlersupply, ebay...etc. On ebay thoe they are advertising the 190 advanced out of a direct supply company in florida saying that they are "new and improved" and coming fully assembled from the factory. I'm only going to take that with a grain of salt but im curious to know why they are advertising it that way, but then again it's ebay

With the humidity problems a few of you are having and the noisy pump i have started to throw around the idea of just getting the new'er white GQF 1502 Sportsman. It's super nice looking compared to the older model, but then again i'm just a sucker for looks.

One last question tho, are your guy's 190's colored in yellow and black like they advertise? I have seen all black 190's before and didn't know why they made two with different color schemes.

 

[dak]

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Mine is black and yellow, and I got it directly from the company. I think the specials were a pre-christmas thing. Santa knows what we all want for christmas,

I have not heard anything about a new humidity pump, but maybe that's why they were giving these away with purchase.

The customer service people emailed me back today saying I can fully close the vents and be assured of sufficient ventilation. I don't know if 60% will be achievable for lockdown though. They also gave me the line about weighing the eggs and not relying on arbitrary numbers. All well and good, but for the first SIXTY eggs I just set I need to start somewhere. I found their reply to be somewhat terse.

 

[k2chickens]

Wow, see I was always told customer service was great with brinsea. I'm really not sure where to go, brinsea 190 or the new 1502 sportsman.

 

[dak]

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I don't know what the humidity set-up is like for the Sportsman. Worth looking into. It would be nice to get an opinion of someone who has both.

 

[sheilawagner]

So I did call Brinsea up, and explained to them that I had tested the 190 on a Lockdown scenario. I didn't have any eggs in there, but was test running it. It could hold 45% - 50% with the added sponge and humidity pump, there were no problems, other than the loud noise. As a matter of fact, I ran the 190 without the additional pump, and it could maintain 40-45% humidity no problem. With that said, we live in WA state and its pretty wet and the house has about 60% relative humidity. (I have a hygrometer in the room with the 190)

But for Lockdown, we all know, we need around 60-65% for the last 3 days. Their response was that I should make sure the vents were CLOSED, and that the tubing did not have any kinks, and that there were no holes in it either. To make sure the evaporation tray was filled and the sponge was used.

We checked everything they said, to make sure it was all running smoothly, put the tubing into water, blew into it to check for holes etc. And I told the customer service guy everything we did right, but it was not feasible to close the air vents during hatch, because that was when the chicks needed additional oxygen and fresh air.

Their response was that they knew their products were the best in the market, they worked really fine, but did not give me any other helpful information which would solve my 60% requirement for lockdown, with keeping vents open. So to be honest with you, I'm not incredibly impressed with the customer service guy's 'problem solving' skills, without sounding like an advertisement for his company. I know he was trained to say what he said, but I did pay a lot of money too.

We are going to improvise, by adding an additional tray (on the top level) and additional sponge during Lockdown. I do plan to hatch in the 190, I got the 190 precisely with the hope that I wouldn't need to temper with humidity during Lockdown, but it seems now that I must do this. I may choose not to use the humidity pump after all, if I just make sure the evaporation tray and the additional water tray I'm putting in stays filled up. Then if I need to decrease humidity, I'll open the vents up all the way, if not, I leave it halfway opened during Hatch, so the chicks get the oxygen they need. Just don't think I'm going to risk closing up ALL the vents during Hatch.

 

[dak]

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This company needs to start listening to its customers, instead of assuming we're morons.

 

[k2chickens]

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This company needs to start listening to its customers, instead of assuming we're morons.

Exactly! I'm not really sure on how to give my opinion with the humidity levels with the 190 because i use the dry hatch method in my 1588. I put about 1 cup of water in a week. Now i understand having a nice cabinet incubator is awesome and all, but if the 190 cannot go much above 50% humidity on lockdown without having the the vents completely plugged then what is the point of even spending that much money for it if you can't safely hatch in it? I mean i have seen people say they move their egss from the 190 to their 1588 styro bators for lockdown because it's so much easier to control humidity in them than fight the humidity in the 190. It's almost like saying you spent $900 dollars to hatch let's say 80 to 100 egg's "average" that 2 Genesis 1588 styros with turners could do for around $350. That's a $550 gap, that's HUGE!!!! For an extra $550 dollars i would at least hope they could get humidity levels ad the noisy pump down. Sheesh! I don't really know what to do now

 

[MuranoFarms]

Wow.....I don't have any problem with hatching in my 190. I close up all the vents during lockdown. I've been having 100% hatches. As long as there is air circulation the first 18 days, the last 3 shouldn't matter.

In fact, my LG's say to close the vent plugs during hatch too.

 

[dak]

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I believe air circulation is most critical at lockdown and hatching. The embryo has a greater O2 requirement. Think of how much more tissue needs to be oxygenated through that shell. More chick and the surface area stays the same.

I also live at 6000 ft, so lower partial pressure of O2 and I live in the high desert, thus lower humidity in the air being circulated into the incubator.

I recieved another email today from the company today suggesting I check for gaps at the vents or a loss of seal from shipping.

 

[sheilawagner]

The book, "A Better Guide to Hatching" states that during Lockdown and Hatch, the chicks would require a higher level of O2 for a better hatch rate. It makes total sense to me, that as they are hatching, and pumping blood from their hearts to their limbs to break out of the shell, more oxygen would be needed for them to do so more efficiently.

I could always risk closing up all the vents during Hatch, but do I really want to risk all my nice eggs? I think I'm willing to open the vents up at least a quarter to a third, and then keep pumping water in through the tubing to ensure humidity stays up, but at the same time, not compromise on the fresh air and oxygen required for the chicks. It is just a call I am willing to make.