First time hatchers hatch A-long!

[abottrell]

Oh that’s super exciting. I’m kind of already addicted to hatching eggs I think. Lol. I didn’t have any shipped yet. I bought my dozen locally. I have another batch in a second incubator. A friend of ours had a bunch of eggs from her EE’s that she just gave me a week ago. I went and bought a second small incubator. I was too worried about a staggered hatch. Not sure I could figure it out as I am so new to incubating eggs. And I really didn’t want to risk it. I tend to worry anyways.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

First time hatching! I just set 33 eggs from my Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. I’m definitely nervous. I tend to be nervous and overthink anyway. I had a little trouble with calibration. Mine is a manual and the thermometer that came with it was off by like 10 degrees. I have 2 in there right now. Before I put the eggs in I had 5 lol. I’ve got a couple of cool eggs in mine I think I have 2 from my hen that lays ombré speckled eggs and one pink/purple egg.

 

[spryng]

Ohhhhh! That is so exciting! My eggs are coming next week, I'm a bit concerned because I ordered the Cochin Bantams from Ebay, those are coming next week, Serama's from Etsy, and EE and Dark Brahama bantams from a BYC member. I'm a bit concerned about everything coming on different days, and having a staggered hatch. I think the Serama's are still 2 weeks out.
What would you guys do?

That's a tough one... I think I'm too new at this to give advice but I am part of a group called Stacker Hatchers on facebook where they add in eggs and stack them to hatch with amazing hatch rates. So adding eggs in is certainly doable.

 

[Weeg]

First time hatching! I just set 33 eggs from my Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. I’m definitely nervous. I tend to be nervous and overthink anyway. I had a little trouble with calibration. Mine is a manual and the thermometer that came with it was off by like 10 degrees. I have 2 in there right now. Before I put the eggs in I had 5 lol. I’ve got a couple of cool eggs in mine I think I have 2 from my hen that lays ombré speckled eggs and one pink/purple egg.

I worried so much on the infertile hatch! Thats what I'm calling my first hatch failure lol! I was checking the incubator ALL THE TIME! I had issues calibrating to, I didn't know if I was doing it right, the temp kept jumping around, it was super confusing! Lol! I was probably making it harder then it needed to be though, I have to say, I'm glad all of my eggs were infertile on the first batch, or I would have killed them for sure! Hahah!

Thats so exciting! I would love to have a hen who laid eggs like that, who cool! What breed is she? I can't wait to see who your hatches go guys! The first incubation is so exciting!

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

Im on my first broody hatch in 2 weeks! I have on extremely late (but alive) egg in my incubator rn making progress. That was my first time ever. Now I have quail eggs in my incubator which I made a separate hatch-a-long for. And im on the broody hatchalong started a little over a week ago. But I think I might just watch this too!

 

[Weeg]

That's a tough one... I think I'm too new at this to give advice but I am part of a group called Stacker Hatchers on facebook where they add in eggs and stack them to hatch with amazing hatch rates. So adding eggs in is certainly doable.

Ya, my only concern is lockdown. If you have eggs that need to go into lockdown on certain days, and other eggs on other days, then locking down is tricky. You don't want to raise humidity to high for eggs that don't need it, and vise versa.
Maybe if I just bought a super cheep bator for the eggs that are ahead of the others, or behind, that could work. Then just switch incubators on Lockdown of certain eggs? There are a few out there for like $30. I'll look into that.

 

[Weeg]

Im on my first broody hatch in 2 weeks! I have on extremely late (but alive) egg in my incubator rn making progress. That was my first time ever. Now I have quail eggs in my incubator which I made a separate hatch-a-long for. And im on the broody hatchalong started a little over a week ago. But I think I might just watch this too!

First time hatching! I just set 33 eggs from my Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. I’m definitely nervous. I tend to be nervous and overthink anyway. I had a little trouble with calibration. Mine is a manual and the thermometer that came with it was off by like 10 degrees. I have 2 in there right now. Before I put the eggs in I had 5 lol. I’ve got a couple of cool eggs in mine I think I have 2 from my hen that lays ombré speckled eggs and one pink/purple egg.

Welcome you guys! I can't wait to see how your hatches go, the first hatch is so exciting!

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I worried so much on the infertile hatch! Thats what I'm calling my first hatch failure lol! I was checking the incubator ALL THE TIME! I had issues calibrating to, I didn't know if I was doing it right, the temp kept jumping around, it was super confusing! Lol! I was probably making it harder then it needed to be though, I have to say, I'm glad all of my eggs were infertile on the first batch, or I would have killed them for sure! Hahah!

Thats so exciting! I would love to have a hen who laid eggs like that, who cool! What breed is she? I can't wait to see who your hatches go guys! The first incubation is so exciting!

The pink/purple doesn’t happen very often but it’s one of the RIR. I think the ombré is a RIR too but I’m not certain. Hers are consistently ombré I hope it’s a gene that can be passed down.

Ya, my only concern is lockdown. If you have eggs that need to go into lockdown on certain days, and other eggs on other days, then locking down is tricky. You don't want to raise humidity to high for eggs that don't need it, and vise versa.
Maybe if I just bought a super cheep bator for the eggs that are ahead of the others, or behind, that could work. Then just switch incubators on Lockdown of certain eggs? There are a few out there for like $30. I'll look into that.

I know some people will start the eggs in the cheap incubator and them move them to the better one before lockdown after the others have hatched.

 

[Weeg]

The pink/purple doesn’t happen very often but it’s one of the RIR. I think the ombré is a RIR too but I’m not certain. Hers are consistently ombré I hope it’s a gene that can be passed down.

I know some people will start the eggs in the cheap incubator and them move them to the better one before lockdown after the others have hatched.

Okay, maybe I'll look into something like that. I'll see how far apart they arrive, maybe only a day or two and I can put them together? I don't know.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Okay, maybe I'll look into something like that. I'll see how far apart they arrive, maybe only a day or two and I can put them together? I don't know.

I think a 24 hours difference or less is supposed to be okay. The eggs added later are supposed to just hatch a day later without problems. I’m not sure about 48 hours though. That may approach the point of having whatever extra steps people add for staggered hatches which I don’t have enough experience to give advice on.