I messed up my incubation:Help

[astronoc]

I messed up! So i put the eggs in the LG that I have (this is my first time) and then a couple of days later I put in some more to hatch. Well, I thought I knew which ones were which but when I went to the incubator this morning to lock the first batch down, I noticed that I really didnt do a good job logging which eggs were where.

What do I do? I have an idea of which eggs they are but I am not sure at all. Do I leave them there and take a chance? What happens if they keep turning and they dont really lock down? Will they pip anyways? I can keep a really close eye on them.

What if I take some of the eggs out which will increase the potential of catching some in the firstch batch.... then turn them like once a day... will that sort of balance out the two?

So many thoughts! Help.

 

[Paganbird]

Quote:

?
Not following you... you put in some that were hatched?

 

[astronoc]

I put in one batch of eggs.... say batch A eggs. Then a couple of days later, I picked up more eggs from the hens and put them in the incubator. Lets call those batch B. I thought that I had logged correctly which ones were batch A and batch B but now, i cant tell exactly which eggs are in batch A or B for me to pull them out for lock down.

 

[kagedgoddess]

candle them, the ones on lockdown should be bigger right? just a guess tho. mine are almost on lock down and they fill the egg almost

 

[astronoc]

They are brown eggs :|

 

[Paganbird]

Unless they're really dark like welsummer or marans eggs, candling should work. All my hens lay brown eggs & I candle with no problems. Even if you have just a dim light, you should be able to see the larger airsac & large dark mass of the chicks that are further along.
Thet's why I use cartons... then you keep the eggs in clutches in respective cartons.

 

[astronoc]

I am not good with candling

What would happen if I didnt do a lock down?

 

[kathyinmo]

Well, I did the same thing. I am also a first timer. This is what I did... since it was 48 hrs difference .... I just made lockdown on day 18 of the first batch, which is a couple days early for batch # 2. I don't know if it will work or not. I did open up and hand turn the eggs (batch # 2) 3 times that first day. Now, today, I am on day 19. AND, I have chirping noises coming from the bator ..... AND, now I have 2 tiny pips.... Waiting to see ....

Good luck.

 

[Paganbird]

Well, if you are manually turning the eggs, opening the bator could lower your humidity and lessen your hatch rate.
Maybe - maybe not.
If you haven't been candling all along, you probably aren't sure that the eggs are even developing, and might not know how many are "supposed" to hatch.
You'll just have to take a chance. At least it was a learning experience of what not to do.

 

[astronoc]

I'm not manually turning the eggs

What I did was stop the turner and I will manually turn the eggs I dont think are ready about twice a day (instead of the normal 4 times). The ones I think are ready, I will just turn slightly until they hatch. Hopefully, that will work.