What a privilege to hatch some eggs in the new Brinsea Ovation 56 EX Connect. I confess to being happily technology averse but quite crazily hen-thuiasic about hens. I was nervous about trusting the app – historically I trusted my manual input using buttons and a pen and paper.
I positioned the incubator in the kitchen (it’s rarely used!) – no hot or cold spots – with good airflow – and of course importantly I had quality eggs. The dedicated app was easy to download from the App Store onto my iPhone. I followed the instructions step by step to connect the machine to the app and connect to our internet. I actually found it easy!
Fiona Browne – Brinsea Connect Incubator Hen-Thusiast!
I ran the machine empty for 24 hours, and adjusted the temperature and the humidity from another room, I made regular checks and sure enough the machine had responded and corresponded with the app.
I set 10 chicken eggs. During the 21 day incubation I was going away, so this would be the real test for me. I candled on day 10 and discarded 3 eggs. On day 12 of the incubation, I went away for 3 days. To date the app and machine were flawless. During my mini-break I trusted the app, and on my return the app and the incubator settings were in agreement. I candled the eggs again, all 7 were doing well.
Going into lockdown 3 days before hatch was exactly the same as in any other incubator. Raise the RH and stop the turning and lay the eggs on the base. My mantra has always been – do not interfere/book a holiday/leave the incubator to it. I rely on my gut feeling about intervening but definitely not if a chick has pipped and unzipping. It can take a long time, and they need to absorb the yolk that has supported them. The quality of the egg also reflects the quality of chick of course.
I had 7 new additions – it is unrealistic to expect 100% pullets, but we had 4 pullets, 3 cockerels. Not a bad ratio!
The combination of accurate sensors in the Brinsea incubator and the app alerts gave me peace of mind knowing I could keep track effortlessly whilst away from home.
As expected from Brinsea Products, another innovative ground-breaking addition to the modern world of incubation!
And of course, I didn’t forget to register for my 3 year extended warranty!
Fiona B
