A few pre-incubating questions

[Anasenes]

Good evening,
I just have a few questions before I start my incubation adventure.
How many eggs should I at least have?
And how often do you guys check the incubator and humidity levels and stuff when you incubate?
I have only five fertile eggs right now, and am working to get more soon. And I have to go somewhere next weekend, and wanna know if they would be ok unattended or if I should wait to start incubating until I get back. It would either be a one night or two night thing, sounding more alike a one night thing though.
Also if you guys have any other tips or tricks, please let me know.
Thanks ahead of time, and have a nice day.

 

[WhiteWyan]

Incubator type says a lot here. Do you have a digital thermostat, temp controlled, auto humidity incubator?
Or or you working with home made incubator? Somewhere in between?
I used a hovabator 1602N and I had to check and adjust at least once a day. But mine was in a room where the temp fluctuated a lot.

If your eggs will be less than 10 days old by the time your errand is complete, I say wait.
But you don't want the eggs to wait too long. Then again, the 1st week and a half of incubator is the most critical.
It's up to you.

 

[Anasenes]

Ok it sounds like the errand is going to be in two weeks for two nights. My incubator is the 'Pro series digital circulated air incubator with automatic egg turner' Model 4250. Im gonna mess with it, and just see what it does. Thanks for replying, I will try and time it so the first week and a half are done before my errand.

 

[Kiki]

Ok it sounds like the errand is going to be in two weeks for two nights. My incubator is the 'Pro series digital circulated air incubator with automatic egg turner' Model 4250. Im gonna mess with it, and just see what it does. Thanks for replying, I will try and time it so the first week and a half are done before my errand.

Who is the maker of the bator?

 

[Mosey2003]

4250 is a Farm Innovators model.

You want enough eggs to hopefully have at least two chicks hatch, so you don't have a lonely chick. It's best to have them no older than 10 days, although you can stretch it to 14, just might lose some hatchability. You should be able to walk away for two days and have it be okay. But, that's assuming the incubator works well and is consistent, and I don't run Farm Innovators, so

 

[WickedChicksNH]

I've hatched 1 egg by itself, 2 bantams by themselves and just hatched 5 of 6, still waiting on the last one, I don't really think it matters how little you have.

humidity and temp I keep an eye on all the time as the weather can change so much. I also work from home so I have time to do that as the incubator was literally right next to me

 

[Anasenes]

Thank you all for replying. Im gonna have my dad check it after the morning after the first night im gone, just to be safe. It has been consistant so far. And yeah.

 

[WVduckchick]

Unless you have an issue with the amount of eggs you can collect, I’d go ahead and start them. If something happens while you’re gone, you can start new ones when you return, right?