incubating and hatching

Polar Baby

Hatching
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May 1, 2018
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Hello all, good day
I am new here and new at starting my own little farm.
As a kid we had chickens and more but as an adult I am just starting to have my own little farm animals. So far I am so happy and love them all.
I have a hen that is sitting on (6) eggs and I also have 12 of my own in an incubator and then I have 12 that I had mailed in. My 12 eggs and the 12 I had shipped in are about 9 days apart in the incubator. This is a self turning/rotating incubator
My question is:
Is it going to affect either one of my eggs when my first eggs go into lock down?
I know I have to take the eggs off turning but I want to leave my second set in there on their turning.
I am basically worried about the humidity I guess.
I appreciate any help that you guys might be able to offer
Thank you so much and have a wonderfully blessed day :)
 
Welcome to BYC, first off. I hope you enjoy your time here and I wish you luck with your little farm. I find farm life to be a wonderful, rewarding life to live.

Now to your incubating question. Staggered hatches are not the best situation to have. If possible, it is usually best to hold eggs in a nice, cool quiet location, fat end up and wait for all of your eggs to be incubated together.
Anyway, your situation is going to provide you with a challenge. Your oldest eggs are going to hatch quite a while before your youngest eggs. You are going to have to raise the humidity in your incubator to about 65 - 70 % for hatch. I would wait to do this until you have your first external pip, that way you have the higher humidity for only a short time hopefully.
Questions: Are you using independent calibrated instruments to monitor your temp and humidity. What has your temp and humidity been through incubation so far?
When you say 'rotating turner' do you mean one that has the eggs on their sides for turning?
My suggestion would be, when you lock down for you oldest eggs, place your younger eggs in an egg carton to keep them relatively safe from the marauding new chicks who will play soccer with the other eggs if they are left in with the chicks and on their sides. If you can devise a divider for your incubator, so much the better. Keep the hatchers on one side and the developing ones on the other. When you have gone through your first hatch there is going to be hatch 'debris' that needs to be cleaned out of the bator. If you have the younger eggs in an egg carton you can quickly take them out, clean the bator and put them back in. I would candle at this time and check the air cells.

Let me know if this makes sense to you. Keep posting as you get into hatch mode, or if you have further questions, obviously!
 

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