Incubating / Hatching Questions

[AlpineSpringsRanch]

I'm in the process of converting a wine cooler into an incubator using some of the ideas I've gained from BYC.

My "breeding stock" consists of 2 Silver Penciled Hens and 1 Rooster and1 LF Partridge Cochin Pair (with 3 more 3-week old pullets in the brooder). I also have 2 New Hampshire Red Hens.

I currently have all of them free-ranging together and have started collecting eggs. My incubator should hold at least 40 eggs. I only plan to get 3 a day max that I want to set. How many days can I "accumulate" before I really should throw them in the incubator?

Also, is it possible to load more than one "setting" in the same incubator? If I want to do that does that mean I HAVE to get a separate hatcher setup for 3 days for "lock down".

Can I store the eggs in the fridge till they are ready? My house is regularly 80 degrees b/c its not cost effective for us to cool it. I'm wondering if the 80 means my eggs start incubating as soon as i bring them in? I could store them in the garage until ready to set, its usually no higher than 75 in there.

Any tips / tricks greatly appreciated

 

[Ridgerunner]

I suggest you read through this. It talks quite a bit about storing eggs for incubation.

Texas A&M Incubation site
http://gallus.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf

People do staggered hatches, but I don't. You have the issues with turning, humidity, and the eggs and incubator getting dirty. The eggs are often a lot tougher han many of us really think, but I like to improve my odds of a good hatch.

You could possibly set up your incubator so you can only turn eggs on one side without opening the incubator. That should not be hard. You could build a divider in there so the freshly hatched chicks don't crawl over the newer eggs. I'm thinking about the eggs getting dirty and the possibility of bacteria infecting the eggs from that. I don't know what you would do about humidity, but humidity is a bit nebulous. It can vary some without causing huge problems. Cleaning the incubator between hatches shoudl not be a huge problem as long as you have a good separation between hatch dates with one batch and lockdown with the next batch.

People do it but if you are going to do much hatching, you are probably better off with a separate hatcher.

 

[AlpineSpringsRanch]

Thanks for the info. That is a great document. I've never hatched eggs myself so its going to be a learning experience all around!