Mad at Myself. Mad at Brinsea.

[Denninmi]

I ruined an entire incubator full of eggs last night. I blame myself, but I also blame poor design on the part of Brinsea, IMHO.

I had an Octagon 20 with 3 purchased Pilgrim goose eggs, and the rest of the space in the tray was full of 5 Rouen eggs and about a dozen Royal Palm cross turkey eggs -- the duck and turkey were from my own birds.

I had the incubator on the turner on my computer hutch in my family room, with the humidity tank and cord sitting above it in one of the "cubby holes" in the desk.

I thought this would be a nice, secure, safe place to put it.

Sometime in the night last night, it appears that the cord and/or the water hose to the tank got tangled up in the turner, and as it moved, it was tight enough that it pulled the tank down, and that set off a cascade effect. That is my theory, the cord and hose were wrapped up in the turner mechanism, which in the fall was separated from the rest of the incubator parts.

Whole thing was upside down on the floor this morning. Almost all of the eggs were smashed -- one goose egg, 3 turkey, and a duck weren't smashed. However, I don't know when this happened, sometime between 10:00 PM and 5:00 AM, and the survivors of the fall were cold. I put them into the other Brinsea, which had about a dozen eggs in it, mostly turkey a couple of duck. But I don't hold out much hope, between the fall and the chill.

The ones that didn't make it were sad, because they all were in stages of development. There was a fair amount of blood.

It was NOT a good way to start the morning or week.

Yes, I do blame myself. I thought it would be a good, secure place to put this incubator, because it seems no matter where I put it, I have problems getting cords and hose tangled. Which leads me to the part where I blame poor design by Brinsea -- this external tank system is not the best idea, IMHO, for this very reason. With both a power cord and a water hose trailing, there is just too much potential to get tangled up and pull things off. Plus the separate power cord for the turner.

I regret now that I didn't go with the R-com incubators with the internal tank and turner -- one discrete unit with just a single power cord coming out.

The take away lesson is: I need an entirely different set up. A low, solid table with a lip, some way to contain and control the cord mess and keep it out of both my way and the way of the turner.

My advice for other Brinsea Octagon 20 EX users -- keep this all in mind when placing your incabutor. And, for those considering this model, also keep this in mind. I'd happily trade both of them for an R-com right now.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I'm confused. My brinsea eco 20 does not a have water hose. It has two reservoirs int eh bottom of the unit. the turner is separate from the bator, and there is no way for the cords to get caught up in the turner. My cords never move, so I don't see how that happened. I have used my brinsea for several years, with about 6-8 hatches each year. Never had an issue.

Sorry you lost your batch.

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
Yes, the Eco model just uses the internal water troughs on the bottom. I have 2 of the Advanced EX models that have the humidity pump, they have an external water tank that connects to the main incubator with a thin power cord and a thin silicon hose. That's what keeps getting tangled in my turners or otherwise entangled.

It

 

[Denninmi]

I think I'm going to make my own incubator table -- about coffee table height, with a lip all around, holes for the cords underneath, places to secure the tanks and the turner/stand so they can't move, a system to secure the cords and the water hose, so this can't happen again.

Maybe I'm just the world's biggest klutz, but I can't help but feel that others out there must have the same problem with the hose and cord tangle on these Brinsea units.

 

[Highlander]

Quote:
I have an Rcom Suro and I have a mess of cords coming out of it too. One for the turner, one for the power, one plastic tube for the water and one is the power for the water pump. I've never had an accident with them yet but I've always thought it would be a matter of time. I guess no system is perfect. don't beat yourself up, stuff happens. Learn from it and move on. Best of luck for the next batch.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

The water tank should be on the same flat surface as the bator. The power cord should go towards the back away from the turner, the water hose should come forward from the water tank or to the side and just enough to reach the water hole. When in doubt use zip ties or twist ties to contain the extra cord length. I have 4 running in this fashion each on it's own shelf of a set of stainless steel shelves. Cords are secured to the legs of the shelving unit in our hatching house. Good luck with the remaining eggs.

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
Thanks. That's my plan. Next time, this sucker is going to be locked down like Fort Knox so nothing can move unless I want it to!

 

[Stacykins]

Sounds like you might need to do some cord control. Don't let the power cords mess about. Instead, use a bit of electrical tape to bind them together into a neat and orderly bunch. I could never stand wires all over the place like a passed out octopus, whether it is with the wires inside my gaming computer system or the Brinsea I have.