Brinsea Mini and incubating eggs

[lavacaw]

Got a Brinsea mini and put 7 eggs in to incubate. Temp is holding steady at 99.3-99.5. No way of knowing for sure about the humidity. Have water in the cup below the divider on both sides. Today is day 7 so I candled. Looks like for sure I have 5 active developing embryo. One is too dark to see (brown egg and porous) and one looks like a dud. Am planning to candle again in 4 days only those two eggs. Gonna keep hands off as much as possible. Does anyone else have one of these and am I doing this right? Have raised chickens for years but this is the first time incubating since I fried two dozen eggs in my old hovabator. (that's another story) Need moral support!

 

[Mahonri]

Sounds like you are doing just right.

 

[bellebouche]

You don't say if you're using the Advance version with automatic turning or the ECO version without.

The user instructions for the Advance state that you should only fill one side when you start to incubate and then monitor the humidity by weight loss of the eggs that you're attempting to hatch. If you're using the advance then your humidty might be a little high this early on. If it is the advance what turning interval and duration did you programme?

If you're using the ECO version then I'd imagine that you'll be fine with having the two pots filled. I've not read the instructions for this but would assume that as you have to open it every few hours to manually turn the eggs then the humidty lost on each occasion would be compensated for by having both wells filled.

This thread has more info that might be of use

 

[lavacaw]

I am using the Advance and the eggs are turning every 45 minutes. I think after I candle the two eggs on Sunday, I may put a little hygrometer I have in there if it will fit just to be safe.

 

[bellebouche]

Wait another four days to only candle two? If you do that and one of your other five chicks has suffered a death in shell then how will you find out about it? By candling the others all at the same time you'll have the opportunity to asses the size of the air cell as well - another measure of humidity.

Have a read of the Brinsea hatching guide it goes into more depth about humidity and the hatch process.

If you didn't weigh the eggs before setting them then there's not as much opportunity to chart their weight loss over time.

Again, if you have a hydrometer you could take a reading now - I wouldn't wait until you are over halfway through the incubation period to discover that you might have been running the humidity too high.

 

[brijay2]

I have a new batch in my mini eco (Brinsea) and the instructions say to fill just one side of the humidity well. I placed my thermometer/hygrometer probe in it for a few hours last night to double check the temp/humidity and my thermometer was correct and the humidity was at 36%. (just one well filled). I hope this helps!!!!!

 

[lavacaw]

Just checked and humidity is sitting at 41%. I think that is probably okay, isn't it?

 

[bellebouche]

Quote:
Hrm. Do you trust your Hygrometer? If so, you're probably fine right now as that's probably just borderline acceptable. But, that brings with it a dilemma. You're running with both wells filled already... this is what Brinsea recommend for the hatch to raise the RH to > 65%. You'll have to think of some other way to up the humidity for the last three days.

There's a discrepancy somewhere.


There's perhaps a ton of other environmental considerations to think about. Whereabouts are you, is it hot/dry/humid/cool where you are? What kind of room do you have the Brinsea Mini Advance in? What does your room RH measure out at?

The user guide and the hatching guide I'd linked to above go into some depth about monitoring weight loss and the size of the air cell. Have you been checking on both of these things?

 

[bellebouche]

Quote:
'brijay2'. I just had a quick look at the weather right now for Waddell, AZ it says at 12:45pm your time it was 97F and 10% RH. For the reasons I'd highlighted above I would certainly fill your second well. As you'll be doing manual turning in the Brinsea mini ECO then every time you open it you'll be exchanging the moister air inside the incubator for more-or-less bone dry Arizona air! If you have humidifiers in any domestic AC you might be running then it may not be as dry inside the house of course.... but still, the Brinsea user guide states that as a rule of thumb... for the incubation period you should be aiming for 40%-50% RH.

 

[lavacaw]

There was SOME water in each side of the well...I let one side go dry and will leave it that way till day 18 then completely fill both sides. Both sides were kept well below the divider line. I am in muggy, humid south Texas and I will never figure how the hens get the humidity below 70-80% some days.