Just purchased a Brinsea Eco 20 - question about when chicks hatch...

[Kelly G]

I'm sooooooo excited!! I cannot WAIT to start a hatch!!! I'm going to be very hard to live with - I'm like a kid at Christmas!!!

Anyway, my Brinsea Eco 20 (with turner) just arrived on Friday - I plugged it in to monitor it (no eggs, yet) and all is working just like a charm!!!

Do I remove the adjustable bars (the ones that hold the egg in the correct position) just prior to lock-down? If I leave them in, won't the chicks get tangled up in them?

The instructions say that it can manage up to 24 hens eggs - won't things get a little crowded in there with all the eggs, egg shells, and chicks? It's going to look like chicken-Armageddin in there before it's all over!

 

[danielle82]

I take the bars out of mine at lockdown. If you do put a lot of eggs in their it does get very crowded. I have set as many as 22, but I like to keep it under 18 or so. I'm not sure if it matters, or if that is my own crazy opinion on that lol

 

[jerseygirl1]

I bought the same one, and yes, the metal bars come out for lockdown and the eggs are placed in the plastic tray to hatch. Neat, isn't it?

 

[miss_thenorth]

I have hatched many chicken and quail eggs in mine. I usually take the bars out at lockdown, but a few times I have forgotten. Only once did a problem happen. a quail got kinda stuck or entangled in it, and its leg got messed up. I try my best to remove them.
Your right, there is not alot fo room in there, but they all seem to manage fine. I keep mine in for 24 hours waiting for the entire hatch to complete before I put them in the brooder. They are fine.

Have fun with your new bator! I have put mine away for the winter.

 

[Kelly G]

Thanks, guys!!

When I remove the bars, will it matter if the eggs tip over? I understand that the eggs can move around (from the movement of the chick inside - and the chicks that have hatched)...is this a problem?

Yes, it's soooooooo cool!!! I wish I had eggs to hatch right NOW!!!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Quote:
Oh, I forgot to mention something that I do in mine. Sometimes there are little gaps in the row after you put your 6 eggs in. when the turner moves, the eggs will move. I stop this by wadding up small pieces of cardboard in between the last egg and the side of the tray. Come lockdown time, I remove the peices of cardboard when I take out the bars. At this point, its oka for the aggs to move a bit.

 

[pascopol]

I leave my bars for lockdown (if I hatch in my Brinsea) so the hatchlings will not play ping-pong with unhatched eggs, but trying to increase the distance between bars so the eggs have some room to roll sideways little bit.

If you candle eggs at lockdown or sooner you throw out some duds then you have more room to losen up distance between bars.

Some people can put as many as 180 quail eggs in Brinsea ECO20 by using special dividers and double or tripple stacking.

Obviously you need to use a dedicated hatcher then.

I always use a separate hatcher since I acquired second and then more bator,s there is many advantages of doing that.

 

[gryeyes]

My first hatch in my Octagon20 Advance EX has been underway for 3 days now. I put in 21 eggs and the scheduled hatch date was TODAY, Halloween. They started hatching two days ago, and nine have hatched thus far.

The Brinsea recovers temp and humidity REALLY fast, so I took out six chicks when they were 2 days old, then two more later that day. This morning's chick is dry, but still a little weak to be put in the brooder with the other VERY active chicks.

I removed the egg rails at lockdown, and the eggs tipped over, of course. But 9 have hatched perfectly fine! I keep checking to make sure there aren't any pips on the wrong side or anything, but I guess the heavier side of the egg where the chick is makes that roll to the bottom and the air cell lands on the up side. I also removed shells in really quick movements.

Now, I've got the EX models, so the humidity is handled by the 'bator itself.... so maybe it's safer for me to do it than for those who have to tinker with humidity.

 

[Kelly G]

Thanks, guys! This is really helpful!!!

I can't WAIT to get my first batch in there!!

 

[featherz]

I've always just taken the dividers out and left the eggs flat for lockdown. My last hatch I stuffed 36 eggs in there with NO dividers! I just put enough in that they stayed upright by themselves. By hatch day, I still had 30 in there and was able to lay them flat. Most hatched just fine, but yes I did snatch chicks out once a day.