Brinsea Mini Advance Hatching Egg Incubator (1321176) 364

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The F.A.Q. for Brinsea Mini Advance Hatching Egg Incubator (1321176)

This was purchased in a rush to hatch some eggs which had been laid by a dear button quail whom had passed away. The large plate turner had no trouble turning the very small eggs and i set the turn radius to the lowest setting. I followed the instructions as recommended for hatching game birds and out of six eggs, four hatched, with one dead-in-shell and the other egg unfertilized. However, i found the brinsea mini to hold humidity like a sauna, and if you live in a subtropical area where the humidity level is regularly 50% or higher i would caution against adding water to the reservoir as it seems to make the incubator too humid. I think this is what cause the one chick to die in the shell. It had made it to full term but the air sac had filled with water and it drowned. Use a hygrometer! you may find that you don't need any water in the reservoir at all to maintain optimal humidity levels for the eggs. . Pictures of hatched button quail chicks were taken on hatch day (blue towel) and at one week. They are all healthy and happy!

A number of questions have been asked here.

Q&A

(0) Question: Will it do guinea eggs without the rotating disc? they are the size of silkie eggs.

(1) Question: Would i need the small egg tray for guinea eggs?

(2) Question: Can this incubator handle duck eggs? if so, how many at a time?

(3) Question: Should i put paper towel under the eggs 3 days before they hatch?

(4) Question: Does it come with an egg tray ?

(5) Question: Does this unit display humidity levels?

(6) Question: The screen turned green kind of crumbled after a hatch, the device works fine but no screen to use, what happened, how can it be fixed?

(7) Question: What is the best turn interval in minutes this incubator should be set at for chicken eggs?

(note) Question: where/how to get Brinsea (manufacturer's brand) accessories & similiar Brinsea's products

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Best brinsea mini advance hatching egg incubator (1321176) in review

Just hatched my first batch of eggs. I wanted to hatch some eggs first before rating it. Overall successful i think but had to make some adjustments to ensure success. Hatched 3/5 eggs with the two that i lost being late stage deaths from too high humidity. Some recommedations:. 1) double check the temp with different thermometers prior to starting. I tested for two days before starting and found that setting the incubator temp to the recommended 99. 5 got a temp of 103 at the level of the top of the egg (i hatched chicken eggs). I had to lower the temp to 98. 4 to achieve a temp between 99 and 100 on all the thermometers i used (3). 2) filling the water well only half way gave me a humidity in the upper 40s to mid 50 range. 3) don't fill above the well divider line. That gives you a humidity into the 80s or more. My next attempt i will fill only up to the line. You have to refill every 3-4 days in the first 18 days. I think i had my late stage demise due to the high humidity (i know they were alive at 18 days just before "lockdown" because the eggs were visibly moving around). . Other than having to compensate as noted above (that's why i gave it only 4 stars) i have found this incubator fantastic for those interested in hatching small batches like i am. The instructions aren't too bad.

U. Elanor, Herefordshire

F. Connie, New Mexico says

Very good hatched 4 out of seven eggs (but one was not fertile) chickens are very healthy. Has a 2- year warranty. Nice class can see eggs. Has a countdown until they hatch. Very, very, very, very, very happy!

Z. Anderson, Hackney

Great incubator! i highly recommend this for anyone wanting to hatch a few eggs at a time or a few a year. I put a lot of time into finding a good incubator that would last and this one was recommended by several youtube bloggers that i watch. My first hatch from this incubator was right on time. The morning of day 21 i woke up to 2 fluffy little chick and the rest hatched within 24 hours.

Z. Lara, Kingston upon Thames says

Our first attempt to hatch chicken eggs and this incubator hatched all 4 fertile chicken eggs! we marked each egg with an 'x' and and a '0' on opposite sides of the eggs to monitor the turning; and once per day we did make a few manual rotation adjustments to ensure a full turn. Since this was our first attempt, i have no idea if we really needed to do that or not. . Also, we did add a few drops of additional water to the bottom tray on hatching day to add a bit more moisture within the incubator as it seemed the membrane was drying out before they could peck their way out of the shell. All in all, it was a successful and pleasant educational experience for our kids. . We recommend this incubator, especially if you are novices as we are and only want to hatch a few eggs.

I. Shawna, Vermont

I've had two successful hatches so far with shipped eggs and local eggs. The instructions that came with the incubator were great and very detailed (even came with a sizing chart for you eggs and the degree of rotation). Just follow the instructions exactly and you'll have a full-proof incubation. You can position the eggs so that their air cell ends are closer to the clear plastic wall so that you can candle them without reaching in (which is really great during lock-down). . I have both the seven-egg tray and twelve-egg tray, and i would say stick with the seven-egg tray, as the twelve-egg one was almost too small for serama eggs. . This is not an incubator that you can set and walk away from until hatch-date. The water reservoir needs refilling every couple of days. You'll need to open the entire incubator to carefully pour a little amount of water (which can be tricky, so use something with a spout, like a small teapot). Some people add tubing to the water reservoir so that they don't have to open the incubator to feed water in. . So for those who want a hands-free incubator, this may not be as hands-free as you'd like. This incubator does everything for you (turning, stopping turning before lock-down, temperature control and warning, countdown timer, forced airflow) except for maintaining the water level. In that case, you might want the brinsea octagon instead. . I wish i could fit more than seven bantam eggs in this incubator, but that's actually a great thing as i'd quickly get overrun with chickens. I'd highly recommend this incubator for small-time backyard chicken enthusiasts, and classrooms for a fun incubating experience.

C. Cathy, Cumbria says

I have seen eggs hatching in children's museums and always thought it was so interesting, so i decided to hatch some eggs at home with my 4 year old son. I knew exactly what kind of incubator i wanted-i wanted it small because i wasn't out to start a farm, i wanted it compact to save on space, i wanted it to turn the eggs automatically because i couldn't fathom remembering to turn the eggs 4-6x a day, and i wanted it fully automatic so i could go away for the weekend without worrying about it. I looked on online store and here it was! i couldn't believe someone made exactly what i wanted. The price was a little high but i did a price comparison at my local feed store, which sells enormous incubators that can house 40-60 eggs at once, and nothing smaller. After factoring in the price of the incubator, the separate automatic turner, and all the gear you'd need to maintain a constant temperature and humidity, the brinsea was only a little more expensive than the "low end" stuff at the feed store, except the brinsea required much less attention and maintenance and took up much less space. . We ordered our eggs from mypetchicken dot com, and 7 eggs arrived by mail. After candling i threw out 3 that didn't develop, and hatched 4! we ordered 7 more for our second hatch and i threw out 2, and am waiting for 5 to hatch in a few days. This is addicting! (in case you are wondering, we rehomed our first batch of chicks after playing with them for a few weeks and will bring the second batch to the feed store where they will be sold. ). . A major con for this incubator is the instruction manual. I don't know who wrote it but it's like they had a personal vendetta against me. It was unreadable, full of confusing information, graphs that contain too much information. The only way i got the incubator set up was i went on youtube and this lady took a video of how she programmed her incubator and i did exactly what she did, including her cooling period, turn interval, etc etc. I just copied what she did and didn't bother to use the confusing algorithms in the manual. For humidity, i kept one half of the reservoir full of water until lockdown, at which i kept both reservoirs full of water, and everything was fine. . Note: the periodic cooling cycle is supposed to start on day 7 and end on day 18 for a 21 day hatch. It will turn off by itself, but it doesn't activate itself on day 7. (again this is another reason the manual is terrible). So if you want to do it by the book, you have to set the periodic cooling cycle to off on day 0, and go back on day 7 to turn it on. On day 18 it will turn off by itself or you might want to go turn it off manually, just in case. I accidentally turned on cooling from day 0 and everything was fine, and the lady at brinsea customer service actually said don't use it at all. . Also, don't forget on day 18, candle your eggs one last time, remove the turning plate, and line the bottom of the incubator with paper towel or non-skid shelf liner. The manual says to do this but so obscurely i didn't notice it, and i didn't do either. When the chicks hatched they skidded all over the place and their hatching eggs got stuck on the turning plate. . A good resource for how to use your brinsea is raising-happy-chickens dot com. This lady owns one and describes exactly how to use it, including the useful youtube video. . I bought the brinsea candler and it was really useful. I felt so clumsy candling with a flashlight, and the candler was a good investment. . Cleaning up, by the way, was horrible. I bought the brinsea disinfectant and was glad i did, because it got nasty inside. After washing everything i could wash in water, i used the disinfectant and wiped down everything. Then i had to take a screwdriver and unscrew the top to reveal all the electronics, and using a q-tip dipped in alcohol, i had to carefully remove all the down and fluff that was all tangled inside the "works". It just didn't seem like a good design that i had to dismantle the whole machine to clean those parts out. . Last but not least, i should mention that this incubator is noisy. It emits a steady hum, and not a very pleasant hum either. So think about where you want to put this in your house. . Anyway, lots of cons and negatives, but the incubator was otherwise so good i give it 5 stars anyway! happy hatching!

H. Watson, Reading

Works every time! . I have had/used my brinsea mini aadvance for over a year now, and it does a fantastic job. Definitely worth the extra $79 to upgrade from the brinsea mini to the advance so that all is digitally controlled and you don't have to hand-turn eggs. I have hatched eggs about 6 times now, including a few times t my daughter's school, and the only eggs that haven't hatched are the ones that weren't fertile to begin with. Otherwise, i think we have had excellent results. If this broke down tomorrow, i would immediately buy another one.

K. Rowe, Lorraine says

Had my first hatch, got 4 out of 7; 2 of which were not fertile. They are the cutest things! highly recommend! i just filled the water trough half full and then all the way right before the last 2 day lock-down time and didn't do much of anything else! wonderful! i did forget to put down the felt for nonslip footing and to take out the egg-holed tray before lock-down, but i put them right in their brooder so their little legs wouldn't get splayed or anything.

I. Audrey, Hammersmith and Fulham

Just hatched our first batch of baby chicks in our new brinson mini. 5 of 7 were a successful hatch. Not sure how accurate temp is as gage is in top of incubator and eggs are in the bottom so i know there is a difference in air temps. Really, really, really wish the mini had a built in humidity gage as i believe humidity to be almost as critical as temps when incubating. A bit small once we had 5 live chicks inside, and can't imagine how tight it would have been for 7 chicks, which is what the incubator can hold. Happy so far with the results we have seen so far. Would sure be nice if brinson would include a small sample bottle of the discinfectent and a sample of the cut-to-fit bottom cardboard pads so customers could see how good those products work. I'm sure the reorders in those products would more than compensate for the samples

J. Angela, Halton says

I got a 100% hatch rate with 12 texas a&m quail eggs! i think the key is to not open and close it all the time to candle them, where you loose heat and humidity and let the unit do it's job. Easy enough to program. All my quails hatched exactly on 16 days. The instructions had a day range for hatching, i should have set it to 16 days instead of the last day in the 16-23 days range they gave for quails, so my incubator was still turning the eggs which it should have stopped two days earlier. I also bought the small 12 eggs rotator. Follow instructions and use the first estimated hatch day from the booklet, this incubator is amazing. Watching the eggs hatch was a lifetime bucket list must. Life is beautiful. I had one chick hatch with an air sack and a bad leg who didn't make it after 3 days. The remaining 11 are now a week old and doing perfect! couldn't be more happy.

V. Finch, City of Kingston upon Hull

Just finished first hatch. First off, the problems i had - hatched 4 out of 7. The other 3 started but didn't progress in the 3rd week. Not sure why. Late hatch which made me feel that the temperature is not calibrated correctly. My other thermometers seem to agree that the temperature that is shown is actually higher than the temp in the incubator by almost an entire degree. That would agree with the late hatch. Before i send it in to be recalibrated, i am going to put the heat up to 100. 5 and see if my next group of eggs hatch on time and with a better hatch rate. One other issue is that i had eggs of varied size in the incubator. I had one larger egg that didn't seem to turn well for some reason. The first two chicks that hatched dried off well and did well but the other two that hatched one and two days later wouldn't dry. Too much humidity so i removed them and put them into another incubator to dry. That worked very well and they dried right away. The things i love about this incubator is that it is so easy to see in when on shutdown. It keeps the humidity just right during incubation. I like the small size as i really just need to hatch a few at a time to add to my flock.

K. Susan, California says

Ducks are due to hatch in a couple days. This incubator is tons easier to use than the one i purchased before. I have to keep adjusting temperature on the other one. It's hard to keep on top of it so i don't loose the clutch. Especially if we turn on the air conditioner or leave home. The brinsea mini has taken the hassle out of the job. It heats up and cools down quickly. It has a fan and turner. Only two things i would change. I would love to have it have a humidity measurer and it has trouble turning my large duck eggs. I works great on chicken or regular duck eggs though. I'm sure that is what it is designed for so i can't complain too much. I just make an effort to give the larger ones an extra turn a couple times a day to make sure they got the full effect. It holds a perfect amount for my needs. I don't need 3 dozen ducklings running around :) i'm planning on letting the school borrow it next year because the one they used isn't as accurate and the clutch died by getting too hot one weekend :(

O. Reed, Tower Hamlets

I love this incubator. It helps me limit how many eggs i hatch :) every egg that i have put in has hatched! love this thing, i know and trust that i can set it and forget it! it almost surprises me when i see a little chick in there waiting for me, becuase i always just forget i even set it up.

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