THE Brinsea Octagon 20 Eco Thread; Hatches, etc. (PICS)

[immyjay54]

You must have a lot of patience. lol I practically looked every 5 minutes to see how many had hatched. lol

I guess this came from my dear old mother. She always told us not to bother with mother nature. lol I love seeing them but I usually leave them alone till the end of day 21 and see how they did. lol The more we fool with them the more nervous we get wondering about things that we have no control over. Also makes us want to help out sometimes and I hardly ever do that. I did it a couple of times and ended up with sickly chicks and ended up dying before they matured.
NOW my first hatch was different, I couldn't even go to bed. lol Like you said, peeking every 5 minutes. I've hatched so many out in the last couple of years that now it doesn't bother me quite so much. Don't get me wrong, I'm still amazed about how God ever did what He did. lol The miracle of birth. Truly amazing.
Jim

 

[Kassaundra]

I can't get/keep the humidity high enough in my brinsea to keep them from shrink wrapping, even w/o opening the lid and filling as full of water as you can get in. There was even condensation on the inside for part of the "lock down" phase, but still shrink wrap. If I didn't help mine I would have lost nearly all. Of my 26 to hatch (I lost one shortly after hatch) I would have lost probably 18 or so from shrink wrap if I had not assisted. My first hatch I thought I was prepared and had done all kinds of reading and was militantly hands off and lost nearly all of them, since I have started watching and noting when they first pip, if they are delayed longer then it seems "right" (judgement call on my part) I step in, everytime they have indeed been shrink wrapped and would have died.

When I do step in I have the incubator in the bathroom and turn on the bathroom heater and the hot water in the shower and make it a sauna in the bathroom before I start.

 

[pascopol]

Reading through the posts here is my experience with Brinsea ECO 20.

I bought my ECO 20 about 5 years ago.

Pluses: Much better than any styrobator.
So far very tough and reliable, no major issues.
Great run for your money.
Bottom (base) easy to clean and disinfect , but the top is another story (cleaning).

Minuses:

Humidity control can be a problem as most report, but this is typical for most small incubators due to inadequate evaporation area combined with small air volume.

Original Brinsea Thermometer went off about 2 degree (lower) after few years of use. I replaced it with mercury therm of very close size.

Digital therm will sometimes give off readings, perhaps due to oversensitivity and again small air volume.
I also noticed temperature swings when tilting. After close examination it appears the top cover plastic has too much flex and likely allows some air leakage during swing.

My remedy for hatching is fitting medium thickness cotton sheet cut to size, on the bottom, bending it down to fit water wells, it allows me to get humidity as high as I want. Experiment with size of the sheet, make sure bottom 4 ventilation corner holes are not covered. You will need to add water almost daily using this method, but I am not worrying opening it, cause due to small air volume humidity snaps back in matter of minutes or even seconds when using extra evaporation help.

As any small bator Brinsea 20 (at least mine) will not hold rock solid temp if the room temperature swings more than 5-7 degrees (day/night). Small adjustments needed.

Conclusion: I am overall satisfied, however lately I am using my Brinsea 20 as a hatcher (what an irony huh?) cause I do weekly hatches, and my homemade cabinet bator has 2 standart turners for better eggs management And also it is more stable temperature wise in changing ambient air temperature.
There is no substitute for stability and inertia of greater air VOLUME, no matter how advanced and sophisticated electronics they put in those small bators.

 

[immyjay54]

I can't get/keep the humidity high enough in my brinsea to keep them from shrink wrapping, even w/o opening the lid and filling as full of water as you can get in. There was even condensation on the inside for part of the "lock down" phase, but still shrink wrap. If I didn't help mine I would have lost nearly all. Of my 26 to hatch (I lost one shortly after hatch) I would have lost probably 18 or so from shrink wrap if I had not assisted. My first hatch I thought I was prepared and had done all kinds of reading and was militantly hands off and lost nearly all of them, since I have started watching and noting when they first pip, if they are delayed longer then it seems "right" (judgement call on my part) I step in, everytime they have indeed been shrink wrapped and would have died.

When I do step in I have the incubator in the bathroom and turn on the bathroom heater and the hot water in the shower and make it a sauna in the bathroom before I start.

I never had that problem. As I've said, I only used my Brinsea for one hatch but it stayed in the high 70's on humidity and I didn't have to help any out. I had 12 eggs in there and had 10 to hatch. I have a coal furnace also so you know that that is dry heat and I hatched in February. I filled both trays with water and had cut sponge in the troughs and folded paper towel in the bottom and kept it wet and no problem. I kept my vent half way open also. I guess they just don't all work the same. If I were in your shoes, I would have to do like you are. I hate having a dead chick in the shell. I don't even check mine anymore. After the end of day 22, if no more seem to be doing anything I just toss them. Makes me sick if I open one and find a perfectly formed dead chick in there.
Jim
Hey, as they say, whatever works for you then that is what you do. lol The best of luck in the future.

 

[barrelchick]

OK I just bought the Octagon 20 Eco to use as a hatcher instead of my styrobator genesis 1588. I bought a highly recommended temp/hygrometer calibrated it put it in my genesis and it is off about 15% on the humidity so I am afraid to use my new Brinsea. How do I regulate the humidity? any suggestions...

 

[shella]

i know this is an old post but i had to reply.
i live in the UK and have had no problems with Brisea.
how did you know that the wires were against code you must have opened it up to look which means your warranty is void.
if you approached Brinsea USA as you have in this thread then i am not surprised with the out come.
Brinsea is a business at the end of the day of course they want to make money but they also know that its the customer that makes them the money.

this is to all the people that have issues with the temperature. as have been mentioned before i feel that a lot of you are missing the point the temperature will be different when the eggs are turned but it is collaborated so that when the eggs turn the opposite way the eggs get equal heat. think about how the broody hen turns her eggs she turns from the outside in. the thermometer in the Brinsea is collaborated so the reading at the top of the incubator correlates to what the heat is at egg Laval which in turns is the right temperature inside the egg
humidity will be different as to where you live. find out what is best for you and go with it.
that's set the cat among the pig ions
waiting for your reply

 

[shella]

i have now read all 75 pages and have learned a hell of alot of info. the only thing i need to know is how do you clean the top half.its not in my instructions. .........anyone......pretty pllllease.

 

[kynewbchickie]

I made a HUGE mistake and ordered a FI 4200 Pro Series bator with a turner. I'm calling that store tomorrow and cancelling that special order.
I'm ordering one of these Brinsea ECO 20's instead, and having it shipped overnight express from Rural King. I have eggs coming Wednesday and I cannot be caught with either no bator, or a horrible bator with really, really bad rates of hatching success. I'm glad I found this thread!!!! I've just finished reading all 75 pages of info and tips and I can't begin to thank all of you enough!

 

[katsdar]

I made a HUGE mistake and ordered a FI 4200 Pro Series bator with a turner. I'm calling that store tomorrow and cancelling that special order.
I'm ordering one of these Brinsea ECO 20's instead, and having it shipped overnight express from Rural King. I have eggs coming Wednesday and I cannot be caught with either no bator, or a horrible bator with really, really bad rates of hatching success. I'm glad I found this thread!!!! I've just finished reading all 75 pages of info and tips and I can't begin to thank all of you enough!

I caught mine (Brinsea eco 20) on sale for $113. shipping was around $20, so look around for the best deal. I didn't get the turner with mine, I just turned the unit myself. If you have to wait for your bator, keep the eggs at room temp and tip the egg carton to keep the yolk moving inside, tip at least at a 45 degree angle at minimum twice a day. More would be good, am, when you get home from work, and before you go to bed. Let us know how things work out for you.

 

[kynewbchickie]

I caught mine (Brinsea eco 20) on sale for $113. shipping was around $20, so look around for the best deal. I didn't get the turner with mine, I just turned the unit myself. If you have to wait for your bator, keep the eggs at room temp and tip the egg carton to keep the yolk moving inside, tip at least at a 45 degree angle at minimum twice a day. More would be good, am, when you get home from work, and before you go to bed. Let us know how things work out for you.

I'd been all over Amazon looking for a better deal on the bator, but everything I can afford (up to the $360 model) is out of stock with no available date. So I'm ordering from Rural King as we speak and putting rush delivery on it - they say it will be here by Monday afternoon, UPS. That gives me 2 days to get it up and running, calibrate it better if needed, before the eggs arrive.

These eggs mean more to me than just chicken eggs - they were a gift and I want to have the most successful hatch possible. When I was asked about why I was cancelling on the FI bator, I told them I simply couldn't risk this hatch to repetitively-faulty thermostats.