Adding eggs to the incubator?

[fobpatdgurl18]

I'm new to this and I can't seem to find anywhere about after you start incubating can you add eggs? I know that it can cool down the temps in the incubator but can you do it? If so then how late should/could you add eggs into the incubator? It might be a silly question but I honestly don't know. I understand if you add eggs late then when you take the egg turner out to hatch the first batch you might have to hand turn the eggs until the eggs hatch? What about lockdown?

 

[pruitt514]

You really need a second incubator if you are going to try a staggered hatch. You can use the second one for a hatcher and the first one just for incubation. If you do it that way you can add eggs when ever you want to. I marked the dates on the large end of the shell that way you know how far along they are.

 

[fobpatdgurl18]

That's a good idea. Maybe I can make one or find one pretty cheap for sale and then I could hatch out whatever whenever. Thank you for the tip!

 

[chick4smiles]

Quote:
I'm pretty new to this, but from what I've read you're really not supposed to do a staggered set. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until AFTER I added eggs to my incubator just about every day over a two week period (rookie mistake)! It would be great to have a second incubator as a "hatcher", but I couldn't afford that option. I made the decision to go into lockdown for my first round of hatchers (upped the humidity to 70% for the last three days of incubation) even though I knew I was putting the still-developing eggs at risk of drowning. Everything seems to have worked out for me this time, but yeah, I wouldn't recommend staggering the addition of eggs to an incubator.

One thing I didn't know is that you can keep eggs cool (40-50 degrees) for up to a week and then add them to your incubator without risking much in the lines of fertility/hatching. This way, you can save eggs and put them all in at once (if you're collecting from a small flock like me). Does this option help you?