Egg Selection - Who's In, Who's Out

[enggass]

Hello all,
I wil be receiving 24+ eggs next week to set in my Brinsea Eco 20.
If I cannot fit them all safely, what would you all do to decide who gets left out?
These are going to be Marans & Welsummers plus a few OEs.
The OEs are in because there won't be many. How would you select from the Marans and Wellie Eggs?
Can pre-candling show anything? Will I even see anything with such dark eggs?
Thanks.

 

[Ms.FuzzyButts]

Stack them!!!!!!!!! Then toss the duds to make room whenever you candle.

 

[gryeyes]

What MsFuzzyButts said.

 

[wegotchickens]

Candle, and eliminate andy with cracks or exceptionally porous shells. Those have a slim chance of successfully hatching. If you can see an air cell, draw a line around the top of the egg to mark it.

Then, stack all the good eggs, remembering to hand turn them rather than turning the bator so that top eggs don't roll around.

After 10 days, candle again. The pale eggs will be easy to elimiate. The dark eggs are harder. Draw anither air cell line, and see if it changed shape. If it did, leave it in there. Also, if you can't see the air cell on the dark eggs, sniff them. A rotten egg will become REALLY obvious, and you'll want to oull it before it explodes.

 

[enggass]

I have an auto turner which I would like to use. Is it possible to stack and secure them somehow so that I can use the turner?
gryeyes: How have you done it?

 

[wegotchickens]

I know someone that crafted his own seperators out of wire, that go 'floor to celing' of his Brinsea. I haven't tried it though. I think he cut up olf fridge wire shelving to do it....

 

[dsqard]

Quote:
X3 although I would also go with wegotchickens and candle them as you are putting them in the bator so you can remove the ones with cracks.

 

[dsqard]

Quote:
I think daisychick or maybe it was dabiraymond used I want to say wax paper around the stacked eggs to keep them from moving around. I saw a picture of it and they didn't completely wrap the egg but used enough paper to kinda keep the egg wedged in a spot. Pretty sure they had a similar bator. I have basically the same model as you and that is what I am going to do to set my eggs this Friday since I will have more than 24 to start.

 

[gryeyes]

Well, I used cut down egg cartons, and then wedged some wax paper around the few stacked eggs to hold them steady. Only one egg rolled a bit, and it found a spot where it stayed until I culled the clear eggs on Day 10.

 

[enggass]

How hard is it to see into a Marans Egg? How many Lumens will I need? I think that is going to be the biggest problem I face.