Hatching Questions

[Arosie]

Hello,

I'm hatching eggs in my modified Little Giant incubator (with automatic turner, fan, added computer fans and added hygrometer/thermometer). I have some eggs that are supposed to hatch a bit earlier than the others and today is the day I quit turning the first eggs. I took out the egg turner and will have to continue turning the others by hand. Can anyone give advice on what red plugs I should remove and when? I'm trying to maintain a very high humidity because I'm hatching turkey eggs, but need to keep the temp on the low side so the temp and humidity together don't kill the eggs. Any tips on that would be appreciated as well.

The first batch hatching is turkey eggs and the second batch is duck eggs... To hatch 5 days later than the turkey eggs. Should I just quit turning all of them? We're at around day 24ish for the first batch.

This is kinda confusing... next time I want to put them all in together so I don't have to worry about incubating the later eggs while I hatch the first ones!

 

[Yardmom]

You want to get as much oxygen as possible in there. This would be done by not having the red plugs in. I have found in my LG that the humidity can be hard to keep up so I have put one plug in. You might have to play around and see what works in your current conditions. More water surface= higher humidity. I have added wash clothes to increase the humidity. Hopefully your duck eggs have lost enough moisture to be ok in the higher humidity during Turkey hatch. I have heard that it is not necessary to turn the last week, but you may want to check into that more or just hand turn quickly.

 

[Arosie]

Thanks for the tips! I'm using the water channels and have one of the red plugs out. The humidity is staying pretty stable. My first turkey egg is pipping today and it's only day 25 1/2. Wow! I knew they could hatch early, but I didn't know they'd start THAT early.