Can you do this to the eggs? Need HELP!!!

[kyeschicks]

If i set some eggs today in the bator and on the 10th of december i put some more eggs will they still hatch? or is bacteria going to appear? need HELP!

 

[farmergal]

This is my first time hatching, but from what I've read on other posts, there are a few tough things about staggered hatches:
*the hum needs to be higher on the last three days, so the "younger" eggs will have extra humidity when they don't need it
*you have to be careful to mark the eggs so you know which to turn and which to leave alone, and when... (if you have an auto turner you'll probably have to switch to manual because the hatching chicks can get hurt in the auto turner)

Haven't read anything about bacteria. BYCers have successfully hatched staggered hatches, though! and yours aren't terribly different. I just set some eggs 1 day apart, so I feel your pain -- darn USPS... my eggs from VA arrived 2 days before my eggs from TX, even though TX is way closer to CA!

 

[griffin45]

We didn't have a hatcher when we got started and we kept putting eggs in at about 1 week intervals. It seemed that we got better hatches as the time progressed. The first two sets of eggs did not do anything. The third set we got a 50% hatch. The forth got about 70% and the fifth got 100%. During the whole process I worked on keeping my temperature and humidity stable. I also kept the humidity a little lower than you are supposed to during the last three days, but at the first sign of a pip I misted the hatching eggs with warm water. I took some chances doing that, but my eggs are free. I now have a hatcher and a higher electric bill, but I am more comfortable with the hatching process and it requires much less of my time.

 

[amyquilt]

Staggered hatches are easier if you have hatchers separate from the incubator....that way on day 18 you can move the ones ready to hatch into a hatcher with higher humidity all ready for them