Brinsea Eco 20 Question

[Eyeheartquail]

I set my eggs in my brand new bator on Christmas night and ordered a Digital Thermometer Hygrometer that should be here by the 29th. After reading some of the posts about hatching I started getting nervous that only filling one of my water basins may not be adequate. Should I add water to both basins or just wait until the Digital Thermometer Hygrometer arrives? I hope this doesn't effect my hatch.

 

[sixshooter60]

I dont know anything about this brand of bator but you need to have the temp and humidity regulated before you set the eggs in any bator.. if you dont have a thermometer how can you know if its getting to hot.. i would have waited on the gauge myself .. jmo

 

[Eyeheartquail]

Brinsea's are supposed to be preset. Temp is perfect and comes with a built in thermometer but no hygrometer. Just worried about humidity. The pamphlet says that you only have to keep one water basin full until lock down and then you fill both until they hatch. I am just paranoid by what I have read on some other threads. Hopefully an experienced Brinsea user will help me out.

 

[joe125]

You do have a gosh darn good bator on your hands, but until you know the temp. and humidity going on inside, then it's just a guess about what compartments need to be filled. It may tell you, but I don't know how automated anything is anymore.
When you get your detection device/s, then we can hash it all out, but my best guess would be....You are doing fine.

 

[Eyeheartquail]

Thank you Joe. I received it as a gift from my husband after he read one of your or JJ's threads highly recommending them. I suppose I will just wait and see.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I have the same incubator

and as long as you have 1 well filled it will be kinda close to where it's supposed to be... depending on your area of course...

It shouldn't matter too much for just a couple days while your waiting for your hygrometer to come. I use the little $4 round ones from Petco (I make sure to calibrate it first)... works like a charm! Humidity isn't as critical like it is during the actual hatches. I try to get it around 35-40%.

Hope this helps!

 

[Eyeheartquail]

Thank you so much WhiteMoutainsRanch. Music to my ears

 

[In His Service]

I have 2 Brinseas...I dry incubate and don't add any water until lockdown. (I have the turner and the water would spill out as it turned.) We heat with wood, and although the incubator is not in the same room as the woodstove, the ambient humidity is very low. I probably operate at 20-30% humidity until lockdown, then shoot for 60- 70 %. The humidity will rise somewhat as chicks hatch. Don't open the bator when there are chicks pipped, or zipping, or you risk shrink-wrapping them. If you get a lot of condensation on the inside of the top, you might need to slide the vent open a bit more. I think you are supposed to start with it open about 1/3. I bought a thermometer/hygrometer from Lowe's and used it the first few times. I always turn the incubator on a day or 2 before I put the eggs in if possible so that the temp and humidity will be stable. Resist opening the incubator once you have the eggs in, except for emergencies...like removing a stinky egg. When you open it you lose heat. The longer it is open, the more heat you lose.

This is what I have done for both chickens and quail. It works for me. Good luck, and don't worry too much.

 

[Eyeheartquail]

Thank you IN HIS SERVICE. I feel MUCH MUCH better

 

[joe125]

Quote:
That's very interesting, and may work for chicken eggs, but please don't even try to tell people to dry incubate or especially dry hatch game bird eggs. This is the quail section of BYC. 20-30% humidity is woefully inadequate for incubating quail eggs of any kind.