Thanks for all the good reading and info on this forum, it really helped. I just watched 8 of 8 cute little barred rocks hatch in my new Brinsea Eco20. A perfect first run!!!
I didn't check humidity until day 18. I weighed the eggs initially and then every 3-5 days to monitor the average weight loss to compare against the 'ideal' weight loss. At day 18, the eggs were 1.67 grams (about 3.4%) below the 'ideal' average weight. I had no idea how far from ideal was too far, but apparently, 1.67 grams below was close enough! During the incubation, I added more water and closed the vent farther to try to correct back towards the ideal weight. Those actions may have at least kept the weight from diverging from the ideal line even more than it did. Sorry for the poor pics.
I figured humidity would need a boost during hatching so I added a couple of pieces of sponge on day 18 and threw in a hygrometer out of curiosity. The humidity settled around 55% at hatching time and rose as they hatched, peaking at about 67% during the height of hatching and fell back to the upper 50's as the last two hatched. They all hatched within 24 hours of each other, starting on day 20 into day 21. The father, El Guapo, should be proud!
Overall, I'm very impressed with the Brinsea. It held temperature very well, especially considering the room I was incubating in fluctuated in temperature by as much as 10-15F. I think I adjusted it twice after the initial setting when we had some wild weather changes here. Those are some challenging conditions for any small incubator, I'd suspect.
Here's the chart of average egg weight (in grams):
The incubator:
The fluffies, in a temporary home until I can move them to the actual brooder:
I didn't check humidity until day 18. I weighed the eggs initially and then every 3-5 days to monitor the average weight loss to compare against the 'ideal' weight loss. At day 18, the eggs were 1.67 grams (about 3.4%) below the 'ideal' average weight. I had no idea how far from ideal was too far, but apparently, 1.67 grams below was close enough! During the incubation, I added more water and closed the vent farther to try to correct back towards the ideal weight. Those actions may have at least kept the weight from diverging from the ideal line even more than it did. Sorry for the poor pics.
I figured humidity would need a boost during hatching so I added a couple of pieces of sponge on day 18 and threw in a hygrometer out of curiosity. The humidity settled around 55% at hatching time and rose as they hatched, peaking at about 67% during the height of hatching and fell back to the upper 50's as the last two hatched. They all hatched within 24 hours of each other, starting on day 20 into day 21. The father, El Guapo, should be proud!
Overall, I'm very impressed with the Brinsea. It held temperature very well, especially considering the room I was incubating in fluctuated in temperature by as much as 10-15F. I think I adjusted it twice after the initial setting when we had some wild weather changes here. Those are some challenging conditions for any small incubator, I'd suspect.
Here's the chart of average egg weight (in grams):
The incubator:
The fluffies, in a temporary home until I can move them to the actual brooder:
