Beginners question about mixing eggs

[NewChickLove]

I'm planning on buying a Brinsea Maxi II advance this week and have found a couple of local breeders to buy eggs from (2 different breeders, about an hour away). The breeds I was going to start with are silkies, Polish, and Americaunas. I've never hatched eggs before, and the silkies and Easter Eggers I had last season were wiped out by a predator before they laid eggs, so I'm not sure how their eggs compare. Can I put all three breeds of eggs in the incubator together? I know there is an insert for smaller eggs that could be used, but would the Americauna eggs fit with that? Or would the silkie eggs fit in the regular holders for that matter? I don't want to buy all three and end up not being able to use half the eggs because of size.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm planning on buying a Brinsea Maxi II advance this week and have found a couple of local breeders to buy eggs from (2 different breeders, about an hour away). The breeds I was going to start with are silkies, Polish, and Americaunas. I've never hatched eggs before, and the silkies and Easter Eggers I had last season were wiped out by a predator before they laid eggs, so I'm not sure how their eggs compare. Can I put all three breeds of eggs in the incubator together? I know there is an insert for smaller eggs that could be used, but would the Americauna eggs fit with that? Or would the silkie eggs fit in the regular holders for that matter? I don't want to buy all three and end up not being able to use half the eggs because of size.

If the silkies are significantly smaller, you could run into problems where moisture loss is concerned. While I waited for my silkie eggs to arrive I collected my Spitzhauben eggs and four of my large nn/ee/Spitz eggs. My spitz were fine, they are only medium sized and not thick shelled, but those 4 nn eggs, large and thicker shelled and could not loose enough moisture. I should have never set them in all honesty after seeing how small the silkies were, but I did. 2 hatched fine, the other two, both grew too large to turn and one pipped through the membrane at the bottom, but not through the shell and drowned on the excess fluid. The other pipped the bottom, but managed to pip all the way through the shell so I was able to expand the pip, get it turned around and eventually did an assist. She survived and is one of our favorites.

If you set them together, I'd keep an eye on the air cells. All my standards I can hatch together without problem, but the silkies, I will never hatch with anything but the spitz because I need higher humidity for silkies than my standards.

 

[NewChickLove]

Thank you! This is exactly the info I was looking for and was almost certain of. Since I figured this would be the case, I'm thinking I will hatch the silkies first since they are a smaller bird and will be easier to integrate the new chicks with them a few weeks later.