What incubator should I get from Brinsea?

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Have you ever set bantam eggs in your Octagon 20 Advance? How many were you able to fit in there? I know it says 24 chicken eggs, so I was guessing in the vicinity of 30 Bantam?
Do you just remove the turner trays for lockdown or what? Are they easy to clean? I've been looking at everything I can find on various incubators and unless I find a used Sportsman, that is a decent price,
I need to find another quality option.

The Octagon 20 units are very easy to clean, as they are all plastic. The units set into a turner cradle, which turns the whole incubator; there are no trays to remove at lockdown. Just unplug the turner cradle - MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT UNPLUG THE INCUBATOR. You can leave it in the cradle or take it off the cradle.

I have hatched mixtures of LF and bantam eggs, but never just a hatch of a lot of bantam eggs. I bet you could fit 30 inside the unit.

 

[incubator addict]

hello, thank you for all the quick replies. I might just get an octagon 20 advance. By the way, With my janoel incubator, do you think I should use it as a hatcher?


Thanks,

patrick

 

[Mahonri]

I've done a goodly number of hatches in my Octogon 20 Ex. I love the no worry feature with the humidity pump.

BUT it has had issues with keeping correct temps. I ended up having to buy a brinsea spot check thermometer and then I had to adjust the temp on top of the bator accordingly.

That said, last hatch I started with 30 eggs in it (stacked 6) I ended up with 19 at lockdown and hatched out 18 chicks. Not bad.

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
If you've already had successful hatches in it and it holds a steady temp and humidity then yes, definitely, you could use it as a hatcher. Having a separate incubator and hatcher would allow you to run staggered hatches and add eggs to your main incubator whenever you wanted. It would also keep your main incubator much cleaner as well, which is always a good thing!

I incubate and hatch in my Octagon, and while it's an excellent incubator and I'm extremely pleased with it, I find that by every third or fourth hatch the fan and circuitboard bits are so fluffed up with chick dander that I end up stripping it down completely to clean it out. As in, reducing it to a pile of component parts. Which looks a bit scary with something I spent £200 on! When I can afford another bator, I'll be looking at getting a separate hatcher.