Brinsea Octagon

[JacksonPearce]

I got a great deal on two Brinsea Octagon Ecos, but neither has a turning cradle-- and holy cow are those things expensive! I've got some options, and thought I'd run them by everyone here since you guys are in-the-know .

Should I:

-Sell one and use the money to buy a cradle for the other (I'd have preferred to have two, but I can deal with just one)

-Sell both and buy something else entirely (I think my options are the Ovation 28 Eco, which is $319, or the Maxi II Advance, which is $279)

Any thoughts? Does anyone love the Octagon so much they'd never trade it for either of the other models?

 

[Pyxis]

The turning cradles aren't too badly priced - it's $89 for one on Amazon for the 20 Eco size (not sure which size you have). Do you plan to set so many eggs at once that you will be filling both of them at once? Or will you be running staggered hatches and using one as a hatcher? If the latter, the second one wouldn't need a turning cradle.

I like my Octagons and I'm not sure I'd trade them for the new models. The reason being with the rails out I can fit a lot more eggs in my Brinsea than it's 'supposed' to hold. I'm not sure if the same thing is possible with the new Ovation style ones.

 

[ScottandSam]

We have a ovation 28 ex.We have 25 eggs in there now and only 2 bramha eggs on the 4th Turner. 14 eggs are silkie so that mean a extra one in first two turners. Being my 1st hatch on day 7 we are no experts yet. But I am impressed with the temp and humidity setting the done vary but 1 degree and 2% of the settings. Rock solid.
Scott

 

[Pyxis]

We have a ovation 28 ex.We have 25 eggs in there now and only 2 bramha eggs on the 4th Turner. 14 eggs are silkie so that mean a extra one in first two turners. Being my 1st hatch on day 7 we are no experts yet. But I am impressed with the temp and humidity setting the done vary but 1 degree and 2% of the settings. Rock solid.
Scott
View attachment 1131178

Perhaps you can answer my question - is there any way to take the turner rails out so you can fit more eggs? In my 20 Eco, I can take my rails out and that means instead of 20 eggs I can fit 30 (or more if they're on the small side). In my Eco 40 I've fit 56, and some of those were duck eggs even, so I could get more in if I wanted. But it looks like with this model you really can only fit 28 eggs and there's no way to fit more.

 

[JacksonPearce]

The turning cradles aren't too badly priced - it's $89 for one on Amazon for the 20 Eco size (not sure which size you have). Do you plan to set so many eggs at once that you will be filling both of them at once? Or will you be running staggered hatches and using one as a hatcher? If the latter, the second one wouldn't need a turning cradle.

I like my Octagons and I'm not sure I'd trade them for the new models. The reason being with the rails out I can fit a lot more eggs in my Brinsea than it's 'supposed' to hold. I'm not sure if the same thing is possible with the new Ovation style ones.

That's true-- I don't know that I'd ever NEED to have both running at once-- right now I happened to win several raffles at once, but that's a fluke. I've got an older Hovabator too that I don't love, but can get the job done I'm sure if it were to happen again. I suppose $89 just seems like an awful lot for a turning cradle!

 

[ScottandSam]

I'm on day 7 now so turners are staying in. I have 14 silkie eggs (small to mid size) and 11 brahma(large to xl). I could fit right now 6 more Brahma (total 31) or 7 more silkie(total 32 ) in the turners now. With out them in there I would think I could do more but won't know for 14+ days
Scott

 

[Pyxis]

Oh, I guess the other thing is, if you did take the turner rails out, then you wouldn't have autoturning. So even though you could fit more eggs, you'd have to hand turn them, which would defeat the point, lol. Just thought of that now.

With the Octagon models it doesn't matter since the whole incubator is turned.

 

[JacksonPearce]

Oh, I guess the other thing is, if you did take the turner rails out, then you wouldn't have autoturning. So even though you could fit more eggs, you'd have to hand turn them, which would defeat the point, lol. Just thought of that now.

With the Octagon models it doesn't matter since the whole incubator is turned.

Oh, true! I guess my hesitation is the fact that they've discontinued the octagon, which makes me think it must be sub-par in some way. But people seem to love theirs!

 

[ScottandSam]

Oh, I guess the other thing is, if you did take the turner rails out, then you wouldn't have autoturning. So even though you could fit more eggs, you'd have to hand turn them, which would defeat the point, lol. Just thought of that now.

With the Octagon models it doesn't matter since the whole incubator is turned.

yes you are correct.

Scott

 

[JacksonPearce]

Wow, if ever there was a reason to NOT use that Hova I mentioned...I thought it stabilized, and this morning came down to 109 degrees! I had a few eggs in it, fingers crossed they aren't cooked.