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

[WalnutHill]

I do, but not with a program.

Essentially I open the incubator for about 10-15 minutes every few days, whenever I am having chick withdrawals, to candle, rearrange eggs, clean and refill the water pan, count my chicks before they hatch, or whatever else it takes to get my fix.

Then I close it back up. Thermometers show the temp has dropped into the 80s, and the egg shells are cool to the touch.

I think this somewhat resembles the behavior of a broody when she leaves to eat, drink, poop, gossip, and then returns.

It all boils down to the fact that I am not afraid to open my incubator, as I am certain it will go back to the exact same temperature afterward. I did not dare to do this with my LG foam bators. My homemade cabinet gives me a level of confidence I never had before.

 

[ChcknNurse]

I do, but not with a program.

Essentially I open the incubator for about 10-15 minutes every few days, whenever I am having chick withdrawals, to candle, rearrange eggs, clean and refill the water pan, count my chicks before they hatch, or whatever else it takes to get my fix.

Then I close it back up. Thermometers show the temp has dropped into the 80s, and the egg shells are cool to the touch.

I think this somewhat resembles the behavior of a broody when she leaves to eat, drink, poop, gossip, and then returns.

It all boils down to the fact that I am not afraid to open my incubator, as I am certain it will go back to the exact same temperature afterward. I did not dare to do this with my LG foam bators. My homemade cabinet gives me a level of confidence I never had before.

Lol, I was thinking the same thing! But, information and I believe a link to the study is on the Brinsea website. Apparently, this cool down increased hatch rates.

 

[silkiecuddles]

Am I the only person whose cord is hard to keep in? I have to position it just so, otherwise it comes out. Yesterday the incubator was off for 1/2 hour because it got wiggled.

 

[Beekissed]

I just got my Brinsea Advanced 20 today and was reading the paperwork and it started talking about a cool down period for the eggs. Out of curiosity who does this and what are your results?

I do this, as it was recommended by some oldsters to the hatching game and also in the paperwork. I have to turn the eggs by hand in mine and I do that three times a day, so this is done and then I leave the top off for about 15-20 min. every 3r day or so...I just set a timer so I won't forget to go back to it... and then I also will leave it open when I do any candling, removing of clears, etc. I don't do extended periods of cool down in the first 3 days, nor the last 4 before hatch, as those are times when the broody rarely leaves the nest, so I don't simulate that either.

Good results!

 

[scflock]

Lol, I was thinking the same thing! But, information and I believe a link to the study is on the Brinsea website. Apparently, this cool down increased hatch rates.

I have the Advance as well. I told myself I was going to try the cooldown once I got my other parameters set, but I am getting a 90%+ hatch rate without using it, so I'm scared to mess with a good thing. I read the study, and it said that a person using an Octagon 40 could expect, on average, one more egg to hatch per setting. I figure that leaves me with a 50/50 shot of getting one more chick, and I'm afraid that the chances are better that I would forget to turn the cooldown off at lockdown. I just set a batch last night, so I may give it a whirl next week

 

[ChcknNurse]

Am I the only person whose cord is hard to keep in? I have to position it just so, otherwise it comes out. Yesterday the incubator was off for 1/2 hour because it got wiggled.

Wow, that would be so frustrating. No, mine is solid in there... if you don't see a reason, I would call Brinsea. That's a big deal... power loss.

 

[ChcknNurse]

I have the Advance as well. I told myself I was going to try the cooldown once I got my other parameters set, but I am getting a 90%+ hatch rate without using it, so I'm scared to mess with a good thing. I read the study, and it said that a person using an Octagon 40 could expect, on average, one more egg to hatch per setting. I figure that leaves me with a 50/50 shot of getting one more chick, and I'm afraid that the chances are better that I would forget to turn the cooldown off at lockdown. I just set a batch last night, so I may give it a whirl next week

Yes. I think the study just makes me less afraid to open it to do what I need to and not stress about that. If mine had the cooldown built in, I would likely implement it.

I am very impressed with how quickly it returns to temp. My Little Giant still air is digital and constantly fluctuating. It would drive me nuts if I had to rely on it for incubating. I'm thinking I'll return it

 

[silkiecuddles]

Candled all my eggs tonight! Day 19 for the duck eggs and day 12 fro the chicken! Everything looks alright! The air sac goes up, right? And the pointy side down. Right? *crossing fingers*
Cause that's how I have it.

I turned the entire incubator up to 7 times daily the first week, four the second week, and now I'm doing 3x daily. I read somewhere that if you turn them up to 7x daily the first week it increases hatch rate. I hope that's true. When I'm turning, do I turn the whole thing forward one "section" and then the next time backwards two "sections" so it's not regularly flat, but one back? Or just turn one section at a time each time? Sorry if that's really confusing. I don't know what else ti call it.

 

[ChcknNurse]

Candled all my eggs tonight! Day 19 for the duck eggs and day 12 fro the chicken! Everything looks alright! The air sac goes up, right? And the pointy side down. Right? *crossing fingers*
Cause that's how I have it.

Yes, big side/ air side up.


I turned the entire incubator up to 7 times daily the first week, four the second week, and now I'm doing 3x daily. I read somewhere that if you turn them up to 7x daily the first week it increases hatch rate. I hope that's true. When I'm turning, do I turn the whole thing forward one "section" and then the next time backwards two "sections" so it's not regularly flat, but one back? Or just turn one section at a time each time? Sorry if that's really confusing. I don't know what else ti call it.

I think you would use the shape of the sides as your guide. I'm getting my manual for hatching on Monday. Just in time.

 

[dekel18042]

I just got my Brinsea Advanced 20 today and was reading the paperwork and it started talking about a cool down period for the eggs. Out of curiosity who does this and what are your results?

I do this for 1 to 2 hours (In the beginning 2 hours made me VERY nervous.) from day 8 until lockdown. I have excellent hatch rates with my own eggs. Less with shipped eggs, but I guess that is to be expected. Once I went out forgetting the incubator was off so it wasn't turned back on for over 3 hours and I had an excellent hatch rate.
My incubator can be programmed to do this shut off automatically but I wanted to do it myself in case I wanted to change the times or be able to react to what I was observing.