Current eggs are at day 12. Can I add more eggs?

[Alliegeiger]

I would not incubate them unless I had a separate incubator for them.

The discrepancy in needed humidity is only one issue.

You shouldn't be opening the bator during lock down to turn the other eggs. Even if you take some of the racks out of the turner so the new eggs can turn while the older eggs do not turn, that leaves the risk of chicks getting tangled in the turner.

Chicks are born with a knack for figuring out new and novel ways to commit suicide. "Hey, guys!... Watch this!" He says as he does a swan dive off the egg turner rack, while still dangling by half a shell attached to the umbilical cords.

Hatching is an incredibly messy process. The newly hatched chicks will be dragging their hatching goo all over the eggs which still have an other 10 days to go. They will turn the bator into a bacteria smeared mess. The air quality will go down, the younger eggs will be at huge risk of bacterial contamination which could kill them, or make them prone to omphalitis even if they do hatch successfully.

For all of these reasons, I'll not do a staggered hatch.

Hmm.. I wonder if I can borrow a friends incubator for lockdown of my other eggs.. Might ask.

 

[JaeG]

Good suggestion with the container! I would not have thought of that!

In the same vein, could you put your first batch in a container to hatch them so that they don't make a mess as they hatch? I've separated many quail batches in containers, both plastic and foil ones, in the incubator so that I could keep track of which chicks came from which pens. And because quail are so much smaller the grill to keep them out of the water wells wouldn't be sufficient.

 

[Pyxis]

And because quail are so much smaller the grill to keep them out of the water wells wouldn't be sufficient.

Is the OP hatching quail? I was thinking they were hatching chickens. I gotta go back and reread

 

[Alliegeiger]

In the same vein, could you put your first batch in a container to hatch them so that they don't make a mess as they hatch? I've separated many quail batches in containers, both plastic and foil ones, in the incubator so that I could keep track of which chicks came from which pens. And because quail are so much smaller the grill to keep them out of the water wells wouldn't be sufficient.

That thought put me on the same track as well.. I started thinking maybe I could put the older eggs in a little tupperware.. but there are 20 of them so I might need to cordone a part of the incubator off with a ltitle cardboard box or something.

 

[Alliegeiger]

Is the OP hatching quail? I was thinking they were hatching chickens. I gotta go back and reread

Chickens

 

[Pyxis]

Hmm.. I wonder if I can borrow a friends incubator for lockdown of my other eggs.. Might ask.

If you can borrow an incubator, I think that's gonna be your best bet. It would make things the simplest for you

 

[lazy gardener]

If you can borrow an incubator, I think that's gonna be your best bet. It would make things the simplest for you

Agreed with Pyxis. You also have plenty of time to start them now, and build an other incubator before lock down. But, I'm not trying to enable you here, really, I'm not!