Okay, my first batch of eggs are "resting" & coming up to room temp, will put them into incubator tomorrow, I am soooooo excited!! I have done a LOT of reading here at BYC (understatement!!!
), but I have a couple of "last minute" questions...
I picked up my eggs from a REALLY NICE BYCer who lives nearby. I have 4 Silkie eggs, 1 "bonus" Serama egg (unexpected, but her hen popped it out today so she included it!), and 7 "Good egglayer" mixes (Leghorn, BR, RIR, Australorp... I forget exact possibilities!, will be fun to see).
The Silkies (& Serama) are "for me", if any hatch
. The egglayers were kinda a last minute decision... a friend of the family was over last night and said that he wanted a few chickens for his farm (he's been talking about it for a while!), but wasn't interested in trying to hatch his own... Anyway, while I was there, I asked if she had any eggs that would suit his needs, and voila...a quick trip to the coop and 7 more eggs for me to incubate. I figure it only makes sense, right? I mean, 4 little Silkie eggs & a TINY Serama egg would look kind of pitiful/lonely in the incubator, PLUS, now I don't have to worry so much about putting water bottles or something in with them to help stabilize temps with such a TINY hatch.
Ok, my questions:
1.) How much luck have you had setting eggs into an egg carton while incubating? Does this decrease, increase, or have no impact, on hatch rate?
Some of the "layer" eggs are kinda dirty- understandable, they were not intended as hatching eggs- was a last minute request!! BUT, I've read over & over about not washing them (I DID try a bit of "sanding", but wasn't working well plus felt like I was going to scratch or break them), however, I want to keep "my" Silkies/Serama eggs as "safe" as possible, hence the egg cartons. I'm thinking of putting them in 1 carton, and the "layer" eggs in another carton, to keep them a bit separate. Also, I will always turn/touch the Silkies/Serama eggs first, then the "layers" second, which I figure will avoid possible contamination from my fingers.
So question # 2.) Does that sound like a reasonable course of action? I don't want to be paranoid, but I want to give them the best chances possible, especially considering MY inexperience.
Thanks SO much, and wish me luck... & I know Seramas can be um, DIFFICULT, to hatch sometimes... let alone it's my first try, let alone I only have ONE, maybe wish me DOUBLE luck, or at least BEGINNERS luck....
I picked up my eggs from a REALLY NICE BYCer who lives nearby. I have 4 Silkie eggs, 1 "bonus" Serama egg (unexpected, but her hen popped it out today so she included it!), and 7 "Good egglayer" mixes (Leghorn, BR, RIR, Australorp... I forget exact possibilities!, will be fun to see).
The Silkies (& Serama) are "for me", if any hatch
Ok, my questions:
1.) How much luck have you had setting eggs into an egg carton while incubating? Does this decrease, increase, or have no impact, on hatch rate?
Some of the "layer" eggs are kinda dirty- understandable, they were not intended as hatching eggs- was a last minute request!! BUT, I've read over & over about not washing them (I DID try a bit of "sanding", but wasn't working well plus felt like I was going to scratch or break them), however, I want to keep "my" Silkies/Serama eggs as "safe" as possible, hence the egg cartons. I'm thinking of putting them in 1 carton, and the "layer" eggs in another carton, to keep them a bit separate. Also, I will always turn/touch the Silkies/Serama eggs first, then the "layers" second, which I figure will avoid possible contamination from my fingers.
So question # 2.) Does that sound like a reasonable course of action? I don't want to be paranoid, but I want to give them the best chances possible, especially considering MY inexperience.
Thanks SO much, and wish me luck... & I know Seramas can be um, DIFFICULT, to hatch sometimes... let alone it's my first try, let alone I only have ONE, maybe wish me DOUBLE luck, or at least BEGINNERS luck....
