Comparing Brinsea Advanced and Hova-Bator 1583 picture window

[geniash]

Hello fellow BYC'ers. I'll do my best to document a side-by-side comparison of hatching in 2 different incubators.

Seeing how everyone on these forums were raving about JMF line of quails I decided to give JMF a call and order eggs for hatching. Unfortunately they were backlogged on shipments but gave me a name of a local breeder that carries JMF line. Long story short - I ended up with 4 dozen of eggs that are VERY big, looking neat and healthy and going into 2 incubators. It was also a pickup in person, so I am hoping for a decent hatch rate.

Setup 1. Brinsea Mini Advance. 12 eggs with automatic turning. Temp is set at 99.8 F, no cooling, 30 mins rotation.

Setup 2. Hova-Bator picture window model 1583, egg turner with quail racks, 3 dozen of eggs, maintaining temp between 99.5 and 101 F to the best of my abilities. Filled water container #1 (out of 4) - humidity is around 50%. Will wait for it to evaporate and try container #3 instead, which is smaller and should keep humidity lower. Going good so far.

First observations:
Brinsea has a quail egg disk that fits larger eggs no problem. Quail egg racks that came with Hova-Bator are somewhat small for the eggs I have and some of the larger eggs do not fit properly in them. In addition quail egg racks came in a crappy quality with lots of plastic parts sticking out of them (part of molding process) that I had to remove.

Pictures to follow.

p.s. I should probably sell those 2 bators and get Brinsea Octagon 20 Advanced. Thought in brewing.

 

[geniash]

Starting point:


Plastic crap I had to remove from Hova-Bator quail egg racks:


And here is the setup:

 

[Tukamen]

i am waiting for the new Maxi II advance.

 

[Tony K T]

i am waiting for the new Maxi II advance.

So what was the results?Quail usually hatch well in all incubators,so you should have good results as long as the eggs were good.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[dotknott]

It'll be interesting to see if they're different at all. I won't be hatching quail for some time, but I'm interested in the results.

 

[geniash]

Day 3. Going good so far.

Setup 1. Brinsea Mini Advanced.
Refilled water container in Briasea. What I really like about Brinsea - is that it is truly set it and forget it. I need refill water container once in 3-4 days and at a lockdown fill both water containers. This is it!

Setup 2. Hova-Bator picture window model 1583
I find myself adjusting temp regularly - so far more towards an increase to maintain it around 100 F. Water level is getting low and humidity dropped to 43% - down from 55%. This is an excellent news, I'll be watching it closely and refill a smaller water reservoir (#3) if I want to increase it.

 

[Tony K T]

Day 3. Going good so far.

Setup 1. Brinsea Mini Advanced.
Refilled water container in Briasea. What I really like about Brinsea - is that it is truly set it and forget it. I need refill water container once in 3-4 days and at a lockdown fill both water containers. This is it!

Setup 2. Hova-Bator picture window model 1583
I find myself adjusting temp regularly - so far more towards an increase to maintain it around 100 F. Water level is getting low and humidity dropped to 43% - down from 55%. This is an excellent news, I'll be watching it closely and refill a smaller water reservoir (#3) if I want to increase it.

I may find by adding a fan will make it easier to hold the temp at 99.5.You shouldn't have to adjust your heat at all.That's 1 flaw with the Styrofoam bators,if the room temp changes so does the temp inside your bator as Styrofoam does breath.A fan will fix that issue.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[eHuman]

Hovabator for the win. A little more hands on but holds 6x the eggs and just as reliable, @ 1/3 the cost.

 

[geniash]

Thanks Tony. The Hova-Bator does have a fan in it.

 

[3riverschick]

Hello fellow BYC'ers. I'll do my best to document a side-by-side comparison of hatching in 2 different incubators.

Seeing how everyone on these forums were raving about JMF line of quails I decided to give JMF a call and order eggs for hatching. Unfortunately they were backlogged on shipments but gave me a name of a local breeder that carries JMF line. Long story short - I ended up with 4 dozen of eggs that are VERY big, looking neat and healthy and going into 2 incubators. It was also a pickup in person, so I am hoping for a decent hatch rate.

Setup 1. Brinsea Mini Advance. 12 eggs with automatic turning. Temp is set at 99.8 F, no cooling, 30 mins rotation.

Setup 2. Hova-Bator picture window model 1583, egg turner with quail racks, 3 dozen of eggs, maintaining temp between 99.5 and 101 F to the best of my abilities. Filled water container #1 (out of 4) - humidity is around 50%. Will wait for it to evaporate and try container #3 instead, which is smaller and should keep humidity lower. Going good so far.

First observations:
Brinsea has a quail egg disk that fits larger eggs no problem. Quail egg racks that came with Hova-Bator are somewhat small for the eggs I have and some of the larger eggs do not fit properly in them. In addition quail egg racks came in a crappy quality with lots of plastic parts sticking out of them (part of molding process) that I had to remove.

Pictures to follow.

p.s. I should probably sell those 2 bators and get Brinsea Octagon 20 Advanced. Thought in brewing.

Hi,
I am a huge Brinsea Mini Advance fan.
Have 2 of them. Love the way they work. Get great hatches from them! Light Sussex large fowl. Love the clear dome, easy cleaning. Plus I love the digital humidity control. .Best of all, I love the way it quickly regains temp and humidity when the cover is lifted and quickly replaced when checking on eggs, removing broken shells and checking on water level and checking on freshly hatched chicks.
2 seasons ago, I needed an extra incubator and another BYCer offered to loan me one. It was a big help. I could have asked for any incubator but I wanted another Brinsea Mini Advance fo all the reasons listed above plus.... one thing I like about them is they hatch 7 large fowl. That's just the right number to brood in a watermelon corral which has 15 sq. ft. ( or if you 1/2 the math for bantams 14 birds) The math works out so well.
Best,
Karen