Brinsea owners

[Kidhenduckohmy]

Getting my incubator soon. Just trying to figure out if the advanced incubators are worth the extra money. Couldn't I buy a good temp/humidity and use that with the economy version? Also what size to get? 24 or 48. It seems like the 48 egg version did not get as many good reviews, so it makes me worried.

What incubator do you have? Are you happy with it or do you wish you would have gotten another model?

 

[QueenMisha]

I have an Octagon 20 DX, Eco-type. Holds 24 eggs or so (30 bantam). I've gotten betwee 50-80% hatch rates. Mind that this is a pretty old incubator (the DX has been discontinued for several years and I think this was one of the earlier ones too) I found at a thrift store for $150, so I think that 50-80% is pretty good for its age.

Honestly I don't know if the DX model even came with Advance options. This thing is old and simple. It has one control on it, a small temp dial and a screen that reads said temp. Given that the autoturn cradle is separate with these models I'd say go for the Eco. Turning seems to be the only factor that really effects hatch rate when it comes to Eco vs. Advance - with my hatches, the ones done in a turning cradle were the ones closer to 80% while the ones I did by hand (lost my turner for a while) were closer to 50%.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

I have the octagon 20 advance EX with humidity pump.

It's more pricey yes but totally stress free when it comes to incubating. The only thing I have to do is top the water tank up a couple of times during incubation. Candle the eggs and put them in lockdown. The only thing I wish I had done was get the 40 model so I could have got more eggs in

 

[sprucie]

I would strongly suggest that you go with something that is as fully automated as you can afford. I have a very basic model still air completely manual incubator, and I wish I had gone with something that would monitor the temp for me.

 

[Kidhenduckohmy]

I have the octagon 20 advance EX with humidity pump.

It's more pricey yes but totally stress free when it comes to incubating. The only thing I have to do is top the water tank up a couple of times during incubation. Candle the eggs and put them in lockdown. The only thing I wish I had done was get the 40 model so I could have got more eggs in

What are your hatch rates? And what exactly does the humidity pump do? Does it just keep the same humidity level, or can you set you level?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

What are your hatch rates? And what exactly does the humidity pump do? Does it just keep the same humidity level, or can you set you level?

Hatch rates are 90 - 100%.

You set your desired humidity level on the control panel and when it drops 1% below what you want the pump kicks in and starts sending the water through to the evaporating card that sits in the the incubator. The white evaporating card is held inplace by V clips and and absorbs the water sent there by the pump and creates the humidity. It does drop below what you set but soon gets back up and often goes over the set level but is there or there abouts and creates the average humidity needed during incubation. You don't need to open the incubator then to add water for the humidity as the pump does it for you. 65% is easily achieved for lockdown.

The advance model also has a cool down feature that replicates the hen leaving the nest. It turns the heater element off for what ever amount of time you set it for.

 

[FridayYet]

I have the same model as Yorkshire, and I am really happy with it. I live in the high desert where ambient humidity can drop into the single digits. Last hatch I used one water channel and the pump together to keep humidity stable. (If not the pump ran all the time to keep up.)

If you are going to hatch in the winter with dry air from your furnace in your house, you might consider the pump.

 

[melnjerm]

I got an Octagon 20 Pro from someone on Craigslist and LOVE IT! I have no idea how old it is, can't find much online about it, but it came with a humidity pump as part of the package. I bought and switched to it halfway through my 1st mail order hatch and it was pretty much a "set it and forget it". So amazingly easy! Hatch rate was 100% of those viable after the switch. I just set 14 more CCLB's, that I picked up, on the 7th. We will see! Wish me luck!
If I hadn't found this one, I was looking at saving up for the Octagon 20 and the newer pump. It's worth it!