2 settings, same incubator?

[morgakl2]

If my incubator already has 10 eggs that were set in there on July 23rd, will it be ok to put 12 more in the incubator when my shipped eggs come in? My worry is durring the lock down of the first set, I won't be able to rotate the 2nd set. And they will require two different humidities. I really don't want to go out and buy another incubator. Is there anyway I can make this work?

 

[gwendalynn28]

Perhaps build another incubator. You will need to buy a cooler at Wal-mart, $7, a computer fan at Staples, $10, a thermostat, $7, a brooder lamp to take apart to use for heat, $7, and hardware cloth for the floor, $9 (or cheaper, depends on the size roll you get). This stuff will cost you $40, still cheaper than a factory built incubator. I would show you a picture of the one I built, but I don't know how to add pictures yet!

 

[morgakl2]

you highly overestimate my handiness skills. My store bought one was only $45. Thank you so much for the suggestion though.

 

[Gypsy07]

You can make it work, but you might get a slightly lower hatch rate than if you had incubated your two lots of eggs separately.

When you put the first set of eggs into lockdown, you'll still need to turn the second set, so you won't be able to run a proper lockdown, as you'll still need to open the bator to do this, unless you have an auto turner and can figure out a way to have some of the eggs in the turner and some of them out of it. You'll also need to bump your humidity way up, and when I'm doing this, I like to have it higher than I normally would in lockdown, to compensate for the bator having to be opened 3 times a day. If your humidity has been good up till then and your eggs have lost the correct amount of moisture, a high lockdown humidity is perfectly safe for them.

Then, once the first lot of eggs have hatched, drop your humidity for the second lot of eggs down to much lower than normal for a few days, to compensate for the the high humidity that they were subjected to. That way, they should reach their lockdown with the correct moisture loss. If you weigh your eggs to gauge moisture loss this is dead easy, if not then you really just have to look at teh size of the aircells and do a bit of guesswork...

I've done a couple of staggered hatches like this, and I usually get a typical hatch rate for the first lot of eggs, and a lower than normal hatch rate for the second lot, probably because the fluctuations in humidity aren't ideal, and also because of the hatching debris and resultant bacteria buildup in the incubator after the first lot has hatched.

Good luck!

 

[Backwoods Bntms]

If there is room in the incubator to set the eggs in an egg carton with a string tied to each end going up through a little hole in the top that you can patch later. you could use the strings to tilt the egg carton then you won't have to open during lock down.

 

[morgakl2]

great advice from everyone. Since my husband will only allow me to keep 2 chickens, I guess I don't have to worry about a low hatch rate

If anyone has advice on how to turn him into a chicken lover, please share!

 

[jfulcher]

If you get a second incubator you can use it as a hatcher. Thats what I do.

I do severely staggered hatches and it worked fine last time. Just got to make sure it's prepped before you set them for lockdown.

 

[saddina]

Quote:
What does he spend $$ on that annoys you? here we each get a set amount of $$ each year for our hobbies/wants. Mr saddi doesn't need to know i just blew $800 on a coture coat, and I don't want to know how much he spends in techno gadgets. so long as it comes from our own stash of yearly "fun money" it's no harm, no foul. (fun money goes into 2 seperate accounts jan 31st of each year, and after that it's the honor system.

 

[morgakl2]

Money talks and he listens! That is great advice. Now, I've got to calulate how much money is spent on animal food and etc. for two dogs, 1 goat, 1 cat, 1 rooster, and 1 hen and make sure it is less than his $100/month gym membership. It's all about compromises with marriage. Thanks for the help.