Hatching For Dummies? Help Needed!!!!

[boykin2010]

Ok so for a valentines present my mom and dad gave me about 30 chicken eggs and 2 turkey eggs to hatch!!! I wasnt expecting this and i have only been reading on hatching a little while. I am really worried since i am a newbie. The lady we got the eggs from has probably 75 chickens of all different breeds. Any breed imaginable she has. I know i have 2 cuckoo maran eggs and 6 or so silkies, 2 turkey eggs, and the rest are probably barnyard mixes.

I have never hatched before so basically i am going to need for yall to explain this to me step by step. Today i am turning on my incubator and letting it test run. Do i need to put water in the incubator if i am just test running it? Also, how difficult is going to be to try to hatch chickens and turkeys at the same time? I plan on getting a new thermometer because i have read about how unreliable the thermometers that come with the incubators are.

Also, if the matters my incubator is a little giant still air incubator. I also have the turners that go in it.

Thank you in advance.

PS i can tell this is going to be a LONG thread with all the questions i am going to have...

 

[Baralak]

Here ya go!!!! This is a good resource for incubation!

http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/incubation.pdf

 

[dsqard]

The one thing I know for sure is that turkey eggs take a week longer to incubate. If you are going to hatch all of them together you will have to set those first for a week. To store the rest of the eggs, put them in egg cartons, pointy end down and turn them three times a day. To turn them just put something an inch or so high under one of the long sides of the egg carton then change the lifted side two more times each day. How many eggs does your bator hold?

 

[Baralak]

It's an LG so with the turner so it will hold 42..

Make sure you read the document that with that link... The FIRE away at the questions...

Oh.. and the end of it talks about temp vs humidity, keep in mind that they are talking about wet bulb temp readings.. so since you are running an LG, keep it at 101 degrees, and about 35-40 % humidity until lockdown.

 

[scbatz33]

101 at the top of the eggs.....

 

[boykin2010]

okay thanks for the link i am reading it now! If i have anymore i will post!
dsqard if i set them a week later the chicken eggs wont hatch as good will they?

 

[boykin2010]

Ok another question, do i put the eggs in the turner with the wire thing in the bottom or do i take it out until the eggs are ready to hatch?

Do i put water in the bator while i am test running it?

 

[Baralak]

Yes and Yes... You need it set up just as though you were incubating.

 

[dsqard]

Quote:
How old are the eggs now? From what I have read, viability doesn't start going down until after a week. If the eggs are already a few days old, they might not hatch as well but it is better to risk that then to do a staggered hatch your first time incubating IMO

 

[boykin2010]

quick question. I am trying to test the incubator. Where do i put the thermometer at? I thought about taping it to the window of the bator.