Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[CluckNDoodle]

Right... so the big incubator holds 100 give or take( in auto turners, 400 plus if I wanted to hand turn) the nurture rite 360 holds 22(btw who thought that up ? Why not 24 or a number you usually buy eggs in)and right not the second 360 is at a friends house hatching today and getting refilled for another run. So that leaves the brinsea that holds 56 when fully loaded with turners in place, but it's set up to hatch in right nowView attachment 2021314
we have been adding new eggs after we move the next weekends hatch to lockdown.

How do you like your Brinsea compared to the NR360? I'm thinking about adding a Brinsea to my mix of incubators but I was looking at the Maxi II Advance, maybe the Ovation 28 but that price point is killing me. I find that I prefer having multiple small incubators vs the giant ones because I tend to get a couple staggered hatches going and I find it easier that way. While the NR360 is much easier to get clean than the styrofoam bators I still find the IncuView the easiest incubator to clean, hands down. Not sure if I should get a second IncuView as a hatcher or I was thinking maybe a Brinsea. I would love your thoughts since you actually have both the NR360 and Brinsea.

 

[aliciaplus3]

How do you like your Brinsea compared to the NR360? I'm thinking about adding a Brinsea to my mix of incubators but I was looking at the Maxi II Advance, maybe the Ovation 28 but that price point is killing me. I find that I prefer having multiple small incubators vs the giant ones because I tend to get a couple staggered hatches going and I find it easier that way. While the NR360 is much easier to get clean than the styrofoam bators I still find the IncuView the easiest incubator to clean, hands down. Not sure if I should get a second IncuView as a hatcher or I was thinking maybe a Brinsea. I would love your thoughts since you actually have both the NR360 and Brinsea.

I have 2 of the nr360s that I run for a smaller hatch they work great at lockdown! I LOVE the reliability of my brinsea. the Only issue I found was that at lockdown I had a terrible time getting the humidity high enough! thats why you see 2 cool whip containers in all my lockdown pics. that is the best way I found to get the humidity where I want it. Now keep in mind that I live at 6000 feet in VERY DRY colorado. I bought the brinsea about 2.5 years ago and it has only been turned off for a couple months over that period of time. the Nr360 I bought oct of 2018 so a year and 3 months and it has been running about half??? that time. honestly for the size of operation that I Hope to get to I would like to get a newer cabinet incubator and then just use my smaller ones for hatchers
I have been considering adding an incuview to my line up as the price point seems to be almost doable. I do have a styrofoam incubator that I use as a hospital unit/drying unit for chicks that are causing a ruckas in the incubator but not ready to move to the brooder yet, I do not trust it to hold temps for long but it works for babies that need a little more time.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I have 2 of the nr360s that I run for a smaller hatch they work great at lockdown! I LOVE the reliability of my brinsea. the Only issue I found was that at lockdown I had a terrible time getting the humidity high enough! thats why you see 2 cool whip containers in all my lockdown pics. that is the best way I found to get the humidity where I want it. Now keep in mind that I live at 6000 feet in VERY DRY colorado. I bought the brinsea about 2.5 years ago and it has only been turned off for a couple months over that period of time. the Nr360 I bought oct of 2018 so a year and 3 months and it has been running about half??? that time. honestly for the size of operation that I Hope to get to I would like to get a newer cabinet incubator and then just use my smaller ones for hatchers
I have been considering adding an incuview to my line up as the price point seems to be almost doable. I do have a styrofoam incubator that I use as a hospital unit/drying unit for chicks that are causing a ruckas in the incubator but not ready to move to the brooder yet, I do not trust it to hold temps for long but it works for babies that need a little more time.

Thank you so much for your detailed experience! You sound a lot like me but I'm on a smaller scale. I love my NR360s, I also have 2, and I shouldn't complain because they're fantastic from start to finish with incubation and hatching, by far my favorite incubator so far, but when I got the IncuView while I have some minor complaints since I was completely spoiled by the NR360s, I can't get over how easy it is to clean! I mean, there are no nooks and crannies that I have to wedge towels into in order to sterilize and because I enjoy hatching so often this was awesome, lol!

I have been using a styrofoam incubator as my overflow and hospital unit as well (Little Giant last year and Hovabator this year) but it just takes up so much space and I like watching through the clear plastic viewing windows, so I'm going to swap it out...just not sure which incubator I'm going to replace it with. I've swung from one extreme to the other, little tiny Brinseas for my ICU or I even looked at cabinet incubators since I'm looking at possibly hatching emus for others...decisions decisions.

 

[aliciaplus3]

Thank you so much for your detailed experience! You sound a lot like me but I'm on a smaller scale. I love my NR360s, I also have 2, and I shouldn't complain because they're fantastic from start to finish with incubation and hatching, by far my favorite incubator so far, but when I got the IncuView while I have some minor complaints since I was completely spoiled by the NR360s, I can't get over how easy it is to clean! I mean, there are no nooks and crannies that I have to wedge towels into in order to sterilize and because I enjoy hatching so often this was awesome, lol!

I have been using a styrofoam incubator as my overflow and hospital unit as well (Little Giant last year and Hovabator this year) but it just takes up so much space and I like watching through the clear plastic viewing windows, so I'm going to swap it out...just not sure which incubator I'm going to replace it with. I've swung from one extreme to the other, little tiny Brinseas for my ICU or I even looked at cabinet incubators since I'm looking at possibly hatching emus for others...decisions decisions. View attachment 2021355

my biggest complaint with the NR360 again is the humidity control. because I got the ex56 I can program the brinsea for 35% humidity and not worry about it till time to set up for lockdown. with the NR360 I seem to get 45-50% when filling channel a and 65+ when both are full and closer to 10% with it completely dry. but I have my best hatch rates at around 25-35% humidity for the incubation period... sigh None of the incubators seem to be "perfect" but with all of them I can finagle and get what I need for each different set of eggs. I have the cabinet dialed in for the 25% humidity give or take

 

[two j farm]

What kind of ducks do you have?

Cayuga

 

[two j farm]

I'm on day 4 and I seen little ducklings starting this morning when I candled. All 3 eggs are good!!! I added one more yesterday so it will be my late egg if its good.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Precious cargo... half way home to the incubator!

 

[FortCluck]

I'm on day 4 and I seen little ducklings starting this morning when I candled. All 3 eggs are good!!! I added one more yesterday so it will be my late egg if its good.

Oh goodness, so exciting!!! I'm going to put some of my ducj eggs in tonight

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Precious cargo... half way home to the incubator!

View attachment 2021530

 

[FortCluck]

Precious cargo... half way home to the incubator!

View attachment 2021530

Oh my goodness!!!! They better all hatch so I can be so jelly of you