I'm so excited.. And I just can't hide it...

[The Kooky Kiwi]

OK.. Bonus points to those of you who hummed that song as you read the title

But yeah - I'm SO excited - I've finally managed to upgrade from my cheap and "ok" incubators to a Brinsea 56 EX! Yaaay!

And even though it's very nearly the end of our laying season (I'm getting only ONE egg a day now and sometimes none), I just couldn't possibly wait for the new season to run it in, so I've taken my last five eggs and set them incubating.

I have NO idea if the eggs are even fertile - these eggs are from one of my 6 month olds who only started laying a month ago - but I have seen the rooster doing his duty so "fingers crossed".

I'm SO loving having the automated features again <3 <3

 

[gtaus]

Hey, I'm excited for you, too. I had no idea what that incubator was, so I had to look it up. I hope to someday hatch out some chicks, but maybe with just a broody hen. At present, I don't even have a rooster. Anyway, your new incubator must be a real investment judging by the prices I see on the internet.

How many chicks do you plan on hatching? Do you hatch them in batches, or just keep adding eggs each day? With my 10 hens, it would take almost 2 weeks to fill that incubator with 56 eggs. As you can tell, I have no idea about the incubating process, yet, but still I guess I can be excited for you and your new incubator. Best wishes.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

Hey, I'm excited for you, too. I had no idea what that incubator was, so I had to look it up. I hope to someday hatch out some chicks, but maybe with just a broody hen. At present, I don't even have a rooster. Anyway, your new incubator must be a real investment judging by the prices I see on the internet.

How many chicks do you plan on hatching? Do you hatch them in batches, or just keep adding eggs each day? With my 10 hens, it would take almost 2 weeks to fill that incubator with 56 eggs. As you can tell, I have no idea about the incubating process, yet, but still I guess I can be excited for you and your new incubator. Best wishes.

Hello! Yes it is one of the pricier options on the market but also one of the most reliable. I've been happy enough up until now with cheaper incubator options but they do take a lot more time and care and are more prone to failures and fluctuations so I always had a plan to save up for a higher quality incubator.

I've had Brinsea before and it was fabulous back then so it was an easy choice to aim for.

Through the peak laying and breeding season I tend to set my eggs in the main incubator weekly and on lockdown day I transfer to a separate incubator that is set up for hatching. For some of my more delicate and project breeds I will set eggs daily - to maximise their chances - and last season this approach worked well. I had a 98% - 100% hatch rate on the eggs set that way.

This coming season, I expect to hatch approximately 50 birds in one variety. By the time I cull any with undesired traits and excess roosters, I will sell some and want to end up with a short list of approximately 10 keepers for myself.

For my project birds, the cull percentage is likely to be a lot lot higher - I'm being REALLY fussy about only keeping specific qualities and traits - so I'll continuously hatch until I feel I have a good number of the right birds to bring on to next season.

 

[gtaus]

For some of my more delicate and project breeds I will set eggs daily - to maximise their chances - and last season this approach worked well. I had a 98% - 100% hatch rate on the eggs set that way.

Does "set eggs daily" mean you are adding eggs daily to the incubator that is turned on and working? So the eggs would be hatching out over just as many days instead of all within the same day or two? Also, you seem to have an excellent hatch rate on your "set eggs daily" method. From other threads I have read, I was lead to believe that a 50% hatch rate was considered good. So I hope you can enlighten me on your method.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

Does "set eggs daily" mean you are adding eggs daily to the incubator that is turned on and working? So the eggs would be hatching out over just as many days instead of all within the same day or two? Also, you seem to have an excellent hatch rate on your "set eggs daily" method. From other threads I have read, I was lead to believe that a 50% hatch rate was considered good. So I hope you can enlighten me on your method.

Yes you are correct. There are times when I will set eggs daily and yes, this means putting eggs into the incubator that is already working. Up until lockdown day its ok to open your incubator for a brief period - as long as you are not creating unnecessary or prolonged fluctuations for your already incubating eggs.

My method is that I have the main incubator set to my preferred temperature and humidity for incubating.
When the eggs are at their lock down day - they are transferred to a separate incubator that is specifically set with hatching parameters.

This method has the following benefits:
Eggs are set very shortly after being laid to minimise storage/age based issues and associated poor developmental outcomes.
Once you find a setting that works well for your incubators you can leave them be and no need to change them between incubation and hatching settings. I will periodically do confirmation checks with independent hygrometers and thermometers of course but generally, changing settings is avoided. Unnecessary fiddling with and changing parameters runs the risk of causing fluctuations that cost you chicks.
You can put as many or as few eggs as you like in using this flow - up to the maximum capacity of your incubator of course.

This method has the following downsides:
It's advisable to have spare parts and/or a backup incubator in case of failure. Nothing worse than having an element blow when you have 56 eggs at various stages of incubation!!
You also need to be mindful of good hygiene and maintenance - running an incubator consistently for more than a month increases your risk of harmful organisms propagating in the incubator and affecting your eggs. I always plan to take my incubator out of incubation duty on a periodic basis so it can be properly disinfected and maintained. IN practice this means I either take a break from incubating for a time or I have a second incubator to use in the interim.

And YES! It's true.. Last season I had a precious few eggs laid by some of my project hens and, with every care taken, I managed to get several 100% hatches

As a comparison - I purchased some hatching eggs from a breeder who shipped the eggs to me. She packaged really well but they still took 5 days to get to me, plus a little over a day sitting to normalise. I purchased 10 eggs from her, had 1 loss while hatching and 9 successfully hatched. Three had to be culled due to unacceptable development faults and general weakness - and the remainders have become lovely birds!

 

[gtaus]

Thanks for the explanation. Someday I would like to hatch my own chicks. So all this knowledge is being filed away for future reference. Again, thanks.

 

[BlueBaby]

Nice! You can sing along while you watch your incubator!

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

Thanks for the explanation. Someday I would like to hatch my own chicks. So all this knowledge is being filed away for future reference. Again, thanks.

When you are ready to become addicted - because honestly we ALL do! - then come back to BYC to do your research. There are some FABULOUS articles here with excellent advice and pictures. And then of course you have so many people who are willing to share your journey and provide on the spot encouragement