How to manage a staggered hatch

[skeyes]

After letting our Royal Palm hen sit on her eggs she crushed 2 hatchlings to death. We gathered the rest of the eggs and candled them.

Some were showing obvious life while others looked to be "possibles".

I just candled them all again and the "possibles" are now "definites".

Here's my dilemma: At this point all eggs are in the turner but some are further along than others and will hatch sooner. If I had 2 incubators it would be easier. How am I going to manage this hatch?

 

[Iggys Acres]

I have hatched birds in the turner, sometimes by mistake with dates, sometimes in a pinch with staggered hatches. A couple problems with this method are 1. some weaker chicks won't hatch because of the egg moving, I also had a couple quail drowned in fluid in the egg when it tilted over. 2. it makes a complete mess of the turner! 3. they can get caught, hung or killed by the moving tray, so try to get them out pretty fast after hatching.

If half the birds are hatching, just unplug the turner for a couple hours. I have the styrofoam hovabator; you could remove some of the trays and make a hatching "cage" out of something like a plastic fruit basket where airflow won't be an issue also. Or make a hatcher out of an old styro cooler, there some plans for them in the how-to/diy section. I'm making one this week with a hot water heater thermostat and light bulb, we'll see if it works.

 

[skeyes]

I can remove some turner racks but I'm not sure what day I should take eggs from the turner. A couple seem to be very close but hate to do it too soon.