Attention Brinsea Ova Easy owners

Given the hatching tray of the 190 holds 36 eggs, has anyone hatched on the turning trays (with the turner off) and had good success? I'm wanting to hatch more than 36 at one time and don't have a second incubator and putting them in all at once is my preference as I can pick them all up on the same date rather than having them mailed for separate dates.

As long as they are all due to hatch at the same time, I understand the only draw back is that the chicks can fall over the sides of the trays on to the bottom but have heard they are fine if this happens.

Also the hatching tray is naturally 2 degrees cooler so if I'm hatching on the upper trays, would I lower the temp by 2 degrees for lockdown?

Getting ready for another hatch in May. Can't wait!

Hopefully Miry comes on here, she is going to try to hatch on the turning trays as well this year. I have heard mixed stories on hatching on the turning trays, that the air flow is not the best up top for hatching? Some have had good luck some not so good?
I have a sportsman hatcher and it is basically the same idea as the incubator and I do not adjust temperature at all in it. The bottom is slightly cooler than the top but it doesnt seem to affect my hatch rates.

ChicoryFarm wrote:Given the hatching tray of the 190 holds 36 eggs, has anyone hatched on the turning trays (with the turner off) and had good success? I'm wanting to hatch more than 36 at one time and don't have a second incubator and putting them in all at once is my preference as I can pick them all up on the same date rather than having them mailed for separate dates.

As long as they are all due to hatch at the same time, I understand the only draw back is that the chicks can fall over the sides of the trays on to the bottom but have heard they are fine if this happens.

Also the hatching tray is naturally 2 degrees cooler so if I'm hatching on the upper trays, would I lower the temp by 2 degrees for lockdown?

Getting ready for another hatch in May. Can't wait!

actually if you get really creative you can fit up to 48 eggs per tray

i had mine fully loaded, right to the hilt on several hatches... and i'm talking upwards of 48 per tray at setting, and probably 36-40 per tray for hatching (once the ones for fertility were weeded out of course, there was a bit of a drop, but seriously not much since the gent i was hatching for had pretty amazing fertility)

anyhow!! i just used my extra trays to create lids, moved two trays to the middle and bottom with lids, and hatch one more tray on the bottom open (does that make sense??)

worked great!! and the nice thing is that it is so quick to come back up to temp and humidity, that i could open it once or twice a day and grab chicks out to give the other hatching a bit more room...

i did two or three hatches like this... worked just fine for me!!!

and if they were developing and fertile at the candling then they still hatched. had no duds because of placement...

Excellent lanaire. Thanks so much for taking the time to type all that great info.

Actually lanaire I do need some clarification:

So you had an open tray on the very bottom (hatching area) and trays on the next two turning trays above that, with lids on those, leaving the very top tray with no eggs on it. Do I have that right?

What did you set your temperature and humidity at for lockdown? Normally if hatching just on the bottom you wouldn't lower the temperature because it is naturally two degrees lower than the turning trays but you had eggs on the turning trays, so what adjustments did you make for temperature? And did you set your RH to 60%?

lanaire-ranching wrote:

ChicoryFarm wrote:Given the hatching tray of the 190 holds 36 eggs, has anyone hatched on the turning trays (with the turner off) and had good success? I'm wanting to hatch more than 36 at one time and don't have a second incubator and putting them in all at once is my preference as I can pick them all up on the same date rather than having them mailed for separate dates.

As long as they are all due to hatch at the same time, I understand the only draw back is that the chicks can fall over the sides of the trays on to the bottom but have heard they are fine if this happens.

Also the hatching tray is naturally 2 degrees cooler so if I'm hatching on the upper trays, would I lower the temp by 2 degrees for lockdown?

Getting ready for another hatch in May. Can't wait!

actually if you get really creative you can fit up to 48 eggs per tray

i had mine fully loaded, right to the hilt on several hatches... and i'm talking upwards of 48 per tray at setting, and probably 36-40 per tray for hatching (once the ones for fertility were weeded out of course, there was a bit of a drop, but seriously not much since the gent i was hatching for had pretty amazing fertility)

anyhow!! i just used my extra trays to create lids, moved two trays to the middle and bottom with lids, and hatch one more tray on the bottom open (does that make sense??)

worked great!! and the nice thing is that it is so quick to come back up to temp and humidity, that i could open it once or twice a day and grab chicks out to give the other hatching a bit more room...

i did two or three hatches like this... worked just fine for me!!!

and if they were developing and fertile at the candling then they still hatched. had no duds because of placement...

ahhh, yes to the trays..... the one on the bottom open, and used the other two trays with lids, leaving the very top open....


actually didnt adjust my temps at all.... and yup just adjusted my humidity up to where i had would have hatched normally.... (i say this because some believe that you dont need to raise it, some say yup you do... i have actually tried both because i wanted to see what it would do without extra humidity--- reasoning behind this, is what if i was doing a continuous hatch? then i wouldnt be able to adjust the humidity at all without damaging the growing embryos... honestly didnt see a difference between either hatch.... wish i could have done more hatching just to test that out--- i had to sell my big one to help pay for my medical bills when i got sick, i only have my mini left but i cant wait to buy another! it was that great)

Thanks lanaire. You've been really, really helpful and I so appreciate it. In turn I wish for you a new Brinsea Ova Easy 190 sooner than later and good health from here on in!