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

[scflock]

I was thinking the Zorb might act like a baby's diaper - meant to absorb liquid and hold it in, away from the skin.  If water is trapped between fibers, it won't release into the air very easily.

Cotton felt would just get saturated and work like doubled or tripled paper towels, wicking the water from the wells across the base of the incubator.  

Hope you do some experiments for us Ruby!

I agree. I'm curious to see what Ruby comes up with

 

[cajun chicken]

Hello everyone! I have a few questions about my second hand Octagon 20 Eco. But first, here is my backstory...... This all started with a trip to the local co-op last spring for some fertilizer and ended up leaving with 10 chicks (5 BR and 5 RIR) and starting a chicken obsession. Anyway, a few months back I bought an Eco second hand. I did a trial run for a couple of days and it worked great.....99.5°F and 45% RH so we decided to set 4 eggs from my EE flock just as an experiment. I got 2 out of 4 chicks from that batch and have done 3 more sets since with not even 50% hatch rate. Each incubation I candled on days 7,14, and 18 and most eggs were developing as they should but they aren't hatching. I am following the instruction book and Hatching 101 but it seems like they are all dying after they go into lockdown. Can anyone help me out???? I am at a loss. Thank you!!

 

[FridayYet]

Hello everyone! I have a few questions about my second hand Octagon 20 Eco. But first, here is my backstory...... This all started with a trip to the local co-op last spring for some fertilizer and ended up leaving with 10 chicks (5 BR and 5 RIR) and starting a chicken obsession. Anyway, a few months back I bought an Eco second hand. I did a trial run for a couple of days and it worked great.....99.5°F and 45% RH so we decided to set 4 eggs from my EE flock just as an experiment. I got 2 out of 4 chicks from that batch and have done 3 more sets since with not even 50% hatch rate. Each incubation I candled on days 7,14, and 18 and most eggs were developing as they should but they aren't hatching. I am following the instruction book and Hatching 101 but it seems like they are all dying after they go into lockdown. Can anyone help me out???? I am at a loss. Thank you!!

Your humidity seems kind of high. Did you check air cells? If they don't lose enough moisture your chicks can drown at the end since they don't have enough air.

Try drawing around the air cells and see if you can come close to this chart:


Also, have you verified your temperature with another thermometer?

 

[scflock]

Hello everyone! I have a few questions about my second hand Octagon 20 Eco. But first, here is my backstory...... This all started with a trip to the local co-op last spring for some fertilizer and ended up leaving with 10 chicks (5 BR and 5 RIR) and starting a chicken obsession. Anyway, a few months back I bought an Eco second hand. I did a trial run for a couple of days and it worked great.....99.5°F and 45% RH so we decided to set 4 eggs from my EE flock just as an experiment. I got 2 out of 4 chicks from that batch and have done 3 more sets since with not even 50% hatch rate. Each incubation I candled on days 7,14, and 18 and most eggs were developing as they should but they aren't hatching. I am following the instruction book and Hatching 101 but it seems like they are all dying after they go into lockdown. Can anyone help me out???? I am at a loss. Thank you!!

I agree with Friday, 45% is high in an Octagon. I've done a lot of trial and error with humidity percentages over the last year, and the only sub 75% hatch rates I have had were when the humidity was over 42%. I know many printed manuals recommend 40-50%, but that has always been too high for me. My best results have been right around 35%, no higher than 40. I am in the south as well, so maybe that has something to do with it. If they are developing, but not hatching, that really points to high humidity.
Are you having to fill both wells to get to 45%? If so, try running one well with the vent fully open. I bet if you drop to 35% you will have much better results

 

[cajun chicken]

Your humidity seems kind of high. Did you check air cells? If they don't lose enough moisture your chicks can drown at the end since they don't have enough air. Try drawing around the air cells and see if you can come close to this chart: Also, have you verified your temperature with another thermometer?

I am using 3 thermometers to verify the brinsea one and they are consistent. I even bought a fairly expensive cigar humidor thermo/hygrometer combo and it reads the same as the others. I will check the air cells this time and try to adjust humidity.accordingly. Thank you for the help

I agree with Friday, 45% is high in an Octagon. I've done a lot of trial and error with humidity percentages over the last year, and the only sub 75% hatch rates I have had were when the humidity was over 42%. I know many printed manuals recommend 40-50%, but that has always been too high for me. My best results have been right around 35%, no higher than 40. I am in the south as well, so maybe that has something to do with it. If they are developing, but not hatching, that really points to high humidity. Are you having to fill both wells to get to 45%? If so, try running one well with the vent fully open. I bet if you drop to 35% you will have much better results

I'll try this and report back. I'm sure you are right though lol. Thanks for the help!!!!!

 

[RubyNala97]

Hello everyone! I have a few questions about my second hand Octagon 20 Eco. But first, here is my backstory...... This all started with a trip to the local co-op last spring for some fertilizer and ended up leaving with 10 chicks (5 BR and 5 RIR) and starting a chicken obsession. Anyway, a few months back I bought an Eco second hand. I did a trial run for a couple of days and it worked great.....99.5°F and 45% RH so we decided to set 4 eggs from my EE flock just as an experiment. I got 2 out of 4 chicks from that batch and have done 3 more sets since with not even 50% hatch rate. Each incubation I candled on days 7,14, and 18 and most eggs were developing as they should but they aren't hatching. I am following the instruction book and Hatching 101 but it seems like they are all dying after they go into lockdown. Can anyone help me out???? I am at a loss. Thank you!!

Are you measuring humidity with a hygrometer? If so, have you calibrated it? Friday had a great suggestion. Start tracing your air cells on day 7,14,18. It's a really good way to compare air cell growth. This will help you figure out what the best humidity is for you. Also, did you open the eggs that did not hatch? This might help you find out when exactly they are dying. (Are the chicks fully formed, did they still have unabsorbed yolk, were there any deformities, had they internally pipped?) All questions that might be able to help you figure out what's going wrong. Do you have the cradle or are you hand turning?

 

[cajun chicken]

Are you measuring humidity with a hygrometer? If so, have you calibrated it? Friday had a great suggestion. Start tracing your air cells on day 7,14,18. It's a really good way to compare air cell growth. This will help you figure out what the best humidity is for you. Also, did you open the eggs that did not hatch? This might help you find out when exactly they are dying. (Are the chicks fully formed, did they still have unabsorbed yolk, were there any deformities, had they internally pipped?) All questions that might be able to help you figure out what's going wrong. Do you have the cradle or are you hand turning?

I have the auto turn cradle. Yes, I have opened the eggs and most are fully developed and looked like they died very late. Not much yolk left in the Shell.

 

[cajun chicken]

I am Definitely going to mark the air cells this time.....I haven't really paid much attention to it before...stupid me lol

 

[FridayYet]

You learn something new every day! I have the turning cradle too, I love it.

 

[cajun chicken]

You learn something new every day!  I have the turning cradle too, I love it.

I have faith in this little machine....I think my problem is Operator error. The only issue I see is the size limitation. Oh well