Hatching Strategy in Brinsea OcEc20

[enggass]

Ok, this is a question for all of you Brinsea Oct 20 experts out there.
I have a small problem - maybe. I have 29 eggs in my BE20. 24 where they should be and 5 on top.
18 are Marans eggs so I really will not know there status until it comes time to hatch - I may have some idea on day 18.
The other 11 eggs are Wellies. Those I will definitely know the status of come day 18. I was figuring on at least 5 eggs not being viable at lockdown therefore making room for the extras come hatch time. WHAT IF, I am not able to determine that... Has anyone here gone into lockdown with more than 24 in the BE20 with the extras sitting on top? If so how did it go and how did you handle it?

Thanks.

 

[Baralak]

Well.. You do have an issue there... but I believe that there is a work-a-round. The brinsea recovers temp and humidity FAST and with that many eggs, it will recover even faster. What I would say to do is as soon as the first half of them hatch, remove them and the shell and place the new chicks directly into your brooder. I would use a towel instead of shavings until your hatch is finished, but just make sure your brooder is WARM. Once you clear out some room, you can let the rest progress in the bator. Below is a chick that just hatched in the brinsea, and as you see once out of the egg, it really takes up space. This pic also shows the rails still in, I remove them but in this hatch I was trying to seperate some bantams from standards... The rail doesn't work.. they go all over the place.

 

[enggass]

Thanks - that's what I was thinking... Even with just the 24 eggs it doesn't look like much room in there if you have a successful hatch rate. I plan on using cut down cartons rather than the rails. Thanks!
Steve

 

[Stacykins]

I will be honest, during my hatch, when a pair of chicks were dried off and ready, I quickly opened the bator and removed them and their eggshells. Humidity returned to normal super fast even with the quick opening, and none were shrink wrapped, even when I did it while there was a pipped egg.

 

[blefky]

Quote:
x 2. Even with fewer than 24 eggs (I recently had 19 in lockdown) it gets crowded in there with chicks and shell halves laying around. The Brinsea recovers heat and humidity so quickly that, if you're very quick about it, the recovery time is literally a matter of a minute or so. Good luck on your hatch!