Brinsea Mini Eco too crowded?

[MonheganTeacher]

I'm using the Brinsea Mini Eco and we have 10 hen eggs: 4 Plymouth Rock and 6 Silkies. 10 hen eggs is the recommended capacity according to the machine directions. The man who gave us the eggs said that you're not to open the incubator under ANY circumstance once they start hatching until they have all hatched. I didn't think this was an issue, until I saw how crowded the incubator is with 10 eggs.

I assumed that some of them wouldn't make it the full 21 days. BUT

We're on Day 14 and have just candled them. Everyone's developing normally!

2 Questions:
Do I need to worry about everyone having enough room to hatch?
and
What if some don't hatch as quickly...or at all? How long do I wait to take the chicks out of the incubator?

 

[MonheganTeacher]

Here's the loaded incubator. Too crowded?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Looks fine to me.

 

[ShayBaby]

I'm curious how this turned out for you. ?
I have the same concerns after packing 14 bantam eggs into my Eco..

 

[thepouts]

How did it work shay baby??

 

[ShayBaby]

Unfortunately, none of those hatched (a few infertile, a couple early quitters, rest somehow shrink-wrapped their last day..which is apparently a common issue with Brinsea), so I'm not sure yet about the crowding. I do have another batch going now of 9 BIG EE eggs, so if those hatch out (fingers crossed), I'll update with any crowding issues.

 

[thepouts]

Thanks for the update sorry to hear none hatched

 

[ShayBaby]

Alrighty. The results are in lol. This time, I got 4 (of the 9) LF eggs to hatch in the mini Eco. And I can honestly say, there is NO WAY IN HECK you could have 9 or 10 babies in there together, with or without eggshell remains. They would be packed tighter than sardines. If you have more than 4 or 5 make it to lockdown, I would absolutely risk the others to open it and remove babies and shells as they hatch. I wouldn't let more than 5 babies MAX stay in there together.
Here's a few pictures of just my little 4 in it. Packed tight together, they took up half of it. When they were comfortable, they filled the whole thing. One other thing, with bantams it probably wouldn't be as much of a problem, but the LF chicks can't stand all the way up because the "ceiling" is too low, so in order to develop properly, you'll also want to get them out fairly quickly, within a day probably. Oh, and one more thing, if you use it to hatch in, you can't imagine the amounts of fluff hatching babies produce! Have a screwdriver ready afterwards, because when you clean it out, you're absolutely going to have to take it apart to clean out the top and fan area.
Anyways, pictures. Again, just 4 in there (you can't see the runt in the back in most of the pics, but he's there):

 

[thepouts]

That's for the update! I cannot believe how squishy it is! It's crazy and is much smaller than I imagined.

Wat happened to the 5 who didn't hatch?

 

[ShayBaby]

It does seem much bigger inside than reality lol. 4 of the 5 were infertile and one was an early quitter.