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

[Tiempo]

Hi all, I loaded my new Octagon 20 on Friday. Hubby bought it for me as an anniversary gift after seeing me get so frustrated with what I liked to call the styrofoam box of doom.

So, D-Day is March 23rd, I have 12 double laced barnevelders (shipped) and 12 black copper marans (local) loaded.

I was kind of worried about my temp readings, 100-100.5 on the glass in-lid thermometer and 98.9 digital at egg top level. After reading through this thread I'm going to stop fretting about temp and see what happens.

I am a bit worried about small fluctuations I had in the first 2 days while I tried to get it right. After I put the eggs in I came home to about 103 on the glass thermometer, they probably spent about 2-3 hours at that on the first night..within hours of going in, temp would have been lower at egg level but I didn't have the digital in yet.

Hopefully it will be ok.

 

[immyjay54]

Hi all, I loaded my new Octagon 20 on Friday. Hubby bought it for me as an anniversary gift after seeing me get so frustrated with what I liked to call the styrofoam box of doom.

So, D-Day is March 23rd, I have 12 double laced barnevelders (shipped) and 12 black copper marans (local) loaded.

I was kind of worried about my temp readings, 100-100.5 on the glass in-lid thermometer and 98.9 digital at egg top level. After reading through this thread I'm going to stop fretting about temp and see what happens.

I am a bit worried about small fluctuations I had in the first 2 days while I tried to get it right. After I put the eggs in I came home to about 103 on the glass thermometer, they probably spent about 2-3 hours at that on the first night..within hours of going in, temp would have been lower at egg level but I didn't have the digital in yet.

Hopefully it will be ok.

I've used my Brinsea 3 times now for incubation and it always reads right about 102 on the glass one in the top of the bator. I have a digital hygrometer that is both temp/humidity. It usually reads 99 but sometimes when I turn it it reads 100. Up to this point, I'd incubate in it then put them in hova bator to hatch because there is more room. Today I'm going to hatch (hopefully lol) my first time in it. lol I've pretty much quit worrying so much over mine and everything seems to be working out okay. I do open mine about every 3 days, lift out tray to add water and close everything back up. I've had really good hatch rate doing things this way.
Hope this helps.
Jim

 

[Tiempo]

Thanks Jim, I'm trying to just let the worry go now and roll with it

Alison.

 

[immyjay54]

Thanks Jim, I'm trying to just let the worry go now and roll with it

Alison.

You are very welcome, Post and let us know how things go. Wishing you the best of luck.
Jim

 

[haTHOR]

I am an experienced hatcher and have cut up sponges on both sides of trough, with a thick washcloth laid on that. Having trouble getting humidity above 60-ish for some strange reason. this house has wood heat and an extreme lack of humidity, is all i can guess. last place, where i had 5 or 6 successful hatches with this eco 20, we lived above a heated swimming pool and electric heat.

 

[Heritage Hens]

I have an Octagon 40 DX and yes, humidity is a challenge to keep it up there. We also have wood stove and even though my Brinsea is in the bathroom, I have to add water on continuous basis, but it is worth it.
The temp is calibrated in the factory with these and 37.6 C translates to what we need farenheit.
Because the 40 DX holds so many eggs, I have to use spacers now and then to keep the eggs upright. One trick I discovered is using hair rollers in two sizes that I bought at a dollar store. They stand upright and allow air to circulate through them. I was using ping pong balls but the curlers are more versitile.

 

[adrian]

Those with very low relative humidity in their houses should invest in a little humidifier for the room their incubators are running in. In my house, the humidity is often ~10%--so dry that my mini Brinsea couldn't get up to 40% humidity. My mini is an advance EX and it was pumping water into the reservoir until it was nearly to the top, evaporating pad entirely soaked, yet the humidity was still around 30%, so I decided I needed to raise the room's RH%. I keep my incubators on a shelf in a walk-in closet as it has the least traffic and most stable temperatures, and the smallness of the space means raising the RH% is very easily done with a small humidifier. They have larger/more powerful ones for larger spaces, however, so there should be something that works for most people. I find that raising the RH% of the room by even 10% can make a huge difference. Just my two cents, I think it really is worth it.

 

[haTHOR]

I am considering the humidifier too, but my problem is that the warm part of my home is the living room, where the fireplace is. Every other area gets cold (bedrooms we only heat at night and close off during day...bathrooms have NO heat and are frigid unless i keep door open to living room/stove area, etc.). Do you think the Brinsea Eco will be able to maintain stable temp at 100 even in an area that will vary in temp, but where i can run a humidifier?

 

[haTHOR]

Moved to a bedroom and kicked heat on in there (will just have to bite the bullet for a couple days on $$). Placed a nice new humidifier right beside it. 64% humidity.

To get that number...I went in and brought the sponges out of the water as much as a i could (not a lot of room under the Eco 20 tray) by putting the rag i had in there into the troughs in a wave shape....in, out and over, in...so that the sponges sit on the rag in the trough which bumps them up out of the water/trough and gives more surface area. I also have way more water in there than I ever have...as much as I can without it coming out the little holes in the bottom.

For whoever said pages back that NO ONE could have a problem with humidity in this bator unless they are just not managing the hatch effectively...pffft. When you have a house with 20% relative humidity, getting to 35-40% for a dry hatch is not too big of a problem. About doubling that IS a problem. 64% is lower than I have ever hatched at. It doesn't seem like the worst number in the world but if it is the absolute PEAK of what I can get, that makes me a little nervous that i am going to have to watching and tweaking constantly to keep it from going lower.

Once you've filled the troughs, put in sponges, put in a rag on top or below that, moved to a slightly moister room, and added a humidifier, you ain't doing much BUT effective managing. Yet the results are not there. Any wisdom for me? Or can you come over and just fix it?

 

[haTHOR]

Ugh. Back down to 60% after 15 minutes.