Which Incubator to buy?

[TattooedMama]

Just an update for those interested in the Octagon Advance 20 with autoturn cradle.

I really like the Brinsea so far. There are a few nitpicky downsides but thats' just me and they may not bother others. It is pretty maintenance free. I have mine high on a cabinet so my 3 year olds little fingers stay away, she is a walking trainwreck with things she is not supposed to touch/have/play with. This puts the incubator at about 4 1/2 feet high and makes it difficult to read the screen unless it is turned my direction. For those who might also like to put theirs a bit higher than a regular table, this can be a pain. If you leave and come back you may miss the timeframe that the autoturn cradle has the incubator facing you. Of course you could turn it around, but I prefer not to mess with it. Also the bars that hold the eggs in place are kinda iffy for me, though I have nothing to compare them too. The bars are metal and fit into slots on either end of the tray; you could potentially make one slightly wider on one end than the other. I found that placing the eggs is hard but maybe thats because I am new at this. The hatching eggs I received varied in size, two were much fatter than the rest. To accommodate these eggs, I had to make the bars wider in each row and this made the smaller ones fall over. This was made worse by the fact that I was left with an inch of free space on the end of the row. It is possible to very carefully prop them and close it while crossing fingers they don't fall over. I have been able to do this but it is a pain. When you replace the lid, the incubator shifts at least half an inch (if its on the autoturn cradle and you removed it while not in an exact upright position) because the lid has some weight to it; at first this made my eggs on the ends keep falling when I replaced it until I got the hang of it. The vent also seems to have a mind of its on and not stay in the position I left it in, so that needs monitoring. The temperature is set to 99.4-99.6 and stays within that range always. You can customize at what temperatures that you want the alarms to sound based on what you feel is too high or too low which I like. I have decided against using the cooling feature this hatch but plan to try that at a later date. The unit reheats quickly and easily after being opened and closed which is also great. Overall I like it and would recommend it. I took an early peak and candled on day 3 and I could already see 5 eggs veining. I am very excited to continue to see how things progress

 

[DCchicken]

Good to hear that the Octagon 20 Advance is a good product. The Octagon 20 Ecos are not the same products nor the same quality. I ended up gutting one of them and replacing it with a nice digital thermostat.

 

[brandy00]

How are your eggs doing? I peeked at mine prematurely on Saturday night. they went in Wednesday at 6:45pm so it was just about 3 days then. I could already see 5 starting to vein. I am very excited. Oddly enough all 3 lavender cuckoo orpington eggs were all clear (super translucent eggs, easy to see in) but I'm hoping they will have something going on day 7. They came in a bundle so I wasn't really too concerned with those 3 but it would have been cool I think to have some, even if only for a bit before selling them.

I'm so glad to hear that your eggs are developing! Unfortunately mine are doing about as well as I expected. Out of the 21 I candled on day 8 and tossed two with blood rings. I have 3 that are definitely developing, a few other maybes, and the rest are clear. I think they were totally scrambled during shipping. I went ahead and left all of them except the ones with the blood rings. I'll recheck around day 10. I think the lesson I'm learning here is I'm done with shipped eggs lol. I would rather spend money and time on a road trip to pick up eggs or birds than go through this again!

 

[brandy00]

Just an update for those interested in the Octagon Advance 20 with autoturn cradle.

I really like the Brinsea so far. There are a few nitpicky downsides but thats' just me and they may not bother others. It is pretty maintenance free. I have mine high on a cabinet so my 3 year olds little fingers stay away, she is a walking trainwreck with things she is not supposed to touch/have/play with. This puts the incubator at about 4 1/2 feet high and makes it difficult to read the screen unless it is turned my direction. For those who might also like to put theirs a bit higher than a regular table, this can be a pain. If you leave and come back you may miss the timeframe that the autoturn cradle has the incubator facing you. Of course you could turn it around, but I prefer not to mess with it. Also the bars that hold the eggs in place are kinda iffy for me, though I have nothing to compare them too. The bars are metal and fit into slots on either end of the tray; you could potentially make one slightly wider on one end than the other. I found that placing the eggs is hard but maybe thats because I am new at this. The hatching eggs I received varied in size, two were much fatter than the rest. To accommodate these eggs, I had to make the bars wider in each row and this made the smaller ones fall over. This was made worse by the fact that I was left with an inch of free space on the end of the row. It is possible to very carefully prop them and close it while crossing fingers they don't fall over. I have been able to do this but it is a pain. When you replace the lid, the incubator shifts at least half an inch (if its on the autoturn cradle and you removed it while not in an exact upright position) because the lid has some weight to it; at first this made my eggs on the ends keep falling when I replaced it until I got the hang of it. The vent also seems to have a mind of its on and not stay in the position I left it in, so that needs monitoring. The temperature is set to 99.4-99.6 and stays within that range always. You can customize at what temperatures that you want the alarms to sound based on what you feel is too high or too low which I like. I have decided against using the cooling feature this hatch but plan to try that at a later date. The unit reheats quickly and easily after being opened and closed which is also great. Overall I like it and would recommend it. I took an early peak and candled on day 3 and I could already see 5 eggs veining. I am very excited to continue to see how things progress 

I agree with all your pros and cons! Overall I'm happy. I think I would like the RCOM pro better, but the price difference between it and the Brinsea 20 is pretty significant. I just couldn't justify spending more than what I I did

 

[TattooedMama]

I'm so glad to hear that your eggs are developing! Unfortunately mine are doing about as well as I expected. Out of the 21 I candled on day 8 and tossed two with blood rings. I have 3 that are definitely developing, a few other maybes, and the rest are clear. I think they were totally scrambled during shipping. I went ahead and left all of them except the ones with the blood rings. I'll recheck around day 10. I think the lesson I'm learning here is I'm done with shipped eggs lol. I would rather spend money and time on a road trip to pick up eggs or birds than go through this again!

I'm a bit nervous so far so we shall see. I was questioning fertility of the lavender cuckoo eggs I received as all 3 are clears. I candled last night and all other 9 eggs are developing. It's been a long time since I have done this but te lavenders are the easiest to candle so there's no nota king they are clear. On an off note some of the air cells look weird to me; almost watery and moving (bouncy?) around te edges. It's super weird and I could only find one old thread that mentions anything similar and the only offered explanation was high humidity. I have been running in the 20s attempting a dry hatch so that can't be it, my air cells ven looked a bit large so I added water after I candled. Any ideas?

 

[brandy00]

I'm a bit nervous so far so we shall see. I was questioning fertility of the lavender cuckoo eggs I received as all 3 are clears. I candled last night and all other 9 eggs are developing. It's been a long time since I have done this but te lavenders are the easiest to candle so there's no nota king they are clear. On an off note some of the air cells look weird to me; almost watery and moving (bouncy?) around te edges. It's super weird and I could only find one old thread that mentions anything similar and the only offered explanation was high humidity. I have been running in the 20s attempting a dry hatch so that can't be it, my air cells ven looked a bit large so I added water after I candled. Any ideas?

That sounds like the air cells were damaged during shipping. That's exactly what several of mine look like

 

[TattooedMama]

That sounds like the air cells were damaged during shipping. That's exactly what several of mine look like

I could tell they suffered a bit when I candled last night, I had more saddles then I could see on day 1. If they are growing that is good though right? Still hope? lol. Are those the ones you have that aren;t working out?

 

[Sydney Acres]

Just an update for those interested in the Octagon Advance 20 with autoturn cradle.

I really like the Brinsea so far. There are a few nitpicky downsides but thats' just me and they may not bother others. It is pretty maintenance free. I have mine high on a cabinet so my 3 year olds little fingers stay away, she is a walking trainwreck with things she is not supposed to touch/have/play with. This puts the incubator at about 4 1/2 feet high and makes it difficult to read the screen unless it is turned my direction. For those who might also like to put theirs a bit higher than a regular table, this can be a pain. If you leave and come back you may miss the timeframe that the autoturn cradle has the incubator facing you. Of course you could turn it around, but I prefer not to mess with it. Also the bars that hold the eggs in place are kinda iffy for me, though I have nothing to compare them too. The bars are metal and fit into slots on either end of the tray; you could potentially make one slightly wider on one end than the other. I found that placing the eggs is hard but maybe thats because I am new at this. The hatching eggs I received varied in size, two were much fatter than the rest. To accommodate these eggs, I had to make the bars wider in each row and this made the smaller ones fall over. This was made worse by the fact that I was left with an inch of free space on the end of the row. It is possible to very carefully prop them and close it while crossing fingers they don't fall over. I have been able to do this but it is a pain. When you replace the lid, the incubator shifts at least half an inch (if its on the autoturn cradle and you removed it while not in an exact upright position) because the lid has some weight to it; at first this made my eggs on the ends keep falling when I replaced it until I got the hang of it. The vent also seems to have a mind of its on and not stay in the position I left it in, so that needs monitoring. The temperature is set to 99.4-99.6 and stays within that range always. You can customize at what temperatures that you want the alarms to sound based on what you feel is too high or too low which I like. I have decided against using the cooling feature this hatch but plan to try that at a later date. The unit reheats quickly and easily after being opened and closed which is also great. Overall I like it and would recommend it. I took an early peak and candled on day 3 and I could already see 5 eggs veining. I am very excited to continue to see how things progress

I know that the Brinsea has a cooling feature, and like the theory behind its use, but don't know the specifics. How cool does it get, and for how long, and how often? Does it say in the owner's manual? I'm still debating between the Rcom Max 20 and the Incuview (I want the first one, but have some reservations, and know I should start with the second one, but don't want to), neither of which has a cooling feature, but I would think could easily be manually reset to do the same thing.

 

[brandy00]

I could tell they suffered a bit when I candled last night, I had more saddles then I could see on day 1. If they are growing that is good though right? Still hope? lol. Are those the ones you have that aren;t working out?

All of mine are damaged, some are saddled, some are just loose. The three that are developing seem to be doing fine though. There is definitely hope! I just think that all my clears are probably more likely not developing due to shipping damage than fertility. I have read that if the developers make it to around day 14 that the growth of the veins and whatnot in the membrane will more or less seal the air cell in place. So if we can make it at least that long I think we will definitely have a decent chance of hatching some fuzzy butts!

 

[TattooedMama]

I know that the Brinsea has a cooling feature, and like the theory behind its use, but don't know the specifics. How cool does it get, and for how long, and how often? Does it say in the owner's manual? I'm still debating between the Rcom Max 20 and the Incuview (I want the first one, but have some reservations, and know I should start with the second one, but don't want to), neither of which has a cooling feature, but I would think could easily be manually reset to do the same thing.

You can find the information on the Brinsea webiste regarding their cooling feature here>> http://www.brinsea.com/cooling.html I haven;t used it yet since I havent done the reading really about the research. Being my first hatch in over 10 years I figured that experiment could wait.

It sounds like you are in my previous frame of mind between the Brinsea and the Incuview. I should have probably gone with the Incuview to start but I was nervous and really wanted the best possible since I plan to hatch more expensive eggs. Brinsea had the bator on sale for $350 and with a promo code "TheChickenChick" I got an additional percent off, so my Octagon 20 Advacned came to $340 with shipping. As many pointed out, instead of losing money on pricey eggs over a few hatches, that money could better be spent for a better incubator to begin with. The Incuview has great reviews from what I have seen but just hasn't been around as long. For me, the Rcom was more than I could justify spending. I like my Brinsea but honestly I probably would have loved the Incuview too.