Incubation Question

[laughingclown]

I have a Genesis Incubator: I plan on setting upwards of 42 eggs into it next week. My questions are:

Is 42 eggs to many for the size of the incubator? Im concerned that the chicks will not be able to move around when they hatch. Will this cause problems?

Also related to the first. I will use egg cartons upon lock down. Again, with that many eggs will they have room to hatch and move? Will the drop from the carton hurt them?

Also when I candle upwards of 42 eggs how should I do it? All at once quickly or at intervals? The goal is not letting to much heat be released I would suspect. Thanks for the help.

 

[laughingclown]

No advice?

 

[coz74]

The Genesis is rated as a 48 egg incubator. The auto turner available for it holds 42 eggs. As far as placing 42 eggs in cartons for lockdown, you may need to be creative with your carton trimming, but I am sure it can be done. As far as candling goes, I would say it depends on your ability to candle. If you can candle quickly, you could do all at once. Mother hens get of their eggs and do their business. The cooldown while candling is similar to this. If it takes you a while to "look" at an egg, you may need to break up your candling session.

 

[CarolJ]

I have a Genesis 1588 with auto-turner, and I put the eggs in egg cartons for hatching. I put the cartons along the sides so that the middle is open for the chicks to move around. I've found that they crawl around on top of the cartons and other eggs. The cartons keep the other eggs from being rolled around. They don't really "drop" from the carton. When they first finish pipping and push the top of the shell off, they lie there - half in and half out - for awhile. Then they continue trying to push their way out of the egg - kinda flopping down the side of the carton - then they tumble out. I've never had any problems with them hatching in the cartons and then moving around the inside of the incubator.

For candling - I get some egg cartons to set them in because that makes it easier to keep track of them and handle them - remove all the eggs at once because that means less time to have the incubator opened, and I can candle all 42 eggs within 10 - 15 minutes maximum (and that's with writing notes about each one). After I candle them, I then return them all to the incubator at the same time. When I say "all at the same time" I obviously can't pick up 42 eggs at one time. I open the incubator with one hand, grab 2 eggs with the other hand and place them in the egg carton & repeat until I have all the eggs out. I've found that the Genesis is really good about maintaining heat. The temp will sometimes go down a degree or two during candling, but never more than that - and it returns to 100 almost immediately.

Chicks like to be close to each other. If they have lots of room, they will still sleep spread out on top of each other. So with the egg cartons along the sides, they will have more than enough room to move around.

Hope your hatch goes great! Good luck!

 

[laughingclown]

Thanks Corolj, thats what I was looking for.