I think you would have a hard time with a staggered hatch in such a small incubator. As was already mentioned hatching is messy and any chicks that hatch will get gunk all over the remaining eggs. In addition if you try to boost the humidity it may cause problems with the remaining eggs. I would also recommend that you wait and set eggs once you receive your shipped eggs.So, I've been waiting for some Phoenix bantam eggs since the end of January & I decided to email the seller to check when he thought he'd be sending them since our weather here turned winter again & got some great news. He was going to ship them on Monday but said he'd be more than happy to hold off a few days to wait for better weather! I'm so excited!
But then I had a predicament. I got an egg each from my hens yesterday that I want to try incubating. I can't hold onto them until the Phoenix bantam eggs show up because I've read viability goes down quickly after 10 days & because I have the Brinsea Mini & it'll only hold 7 eggs. My question to you experienced chicken keepers is: if I start the 4 eggs I have now, will a staggered hatch in the same incubator be doable with 7+ days between the 2 sets? I don't expect all or any of my 4 to be fertile or for all 6 of the shipped eggs to be hatchable, so I'm anticipating tossing some out during the incubation. However, on the off chance at least 1 of my eggs starts developing, I want to make sure that a week between each set won't lower my success anymore than it already is lowered with the shipped eggs.
I get to stay home from work today due to being snowed in, so I am scouring the boards for staggered hatching advice as well. Just thought if anyone here had experience, I'd ask for tips.