I'm incubating a bunch of eggs and I want to be able to keep track of what egg hatches into which chick. I've been doing selective breeding for a while and because I usually use eggs from my own birds, I can easily set eggs all from the one bird, or eggs all the same size, or eggs all the same colour, so I don't usually need to keep track of individual eggs so obsessively.
But now I'm hatching a pile of eggs sent to me by another breeder, and I'd really like to keep track of everybody. I have 18 shipped eggs and 4 eggs from one of my own birds, I've numbered them all and marked their weights on the shells, and now I'm wondering how I can keep them all sorted out come hatching time.
I have 22 eggs in total all in a Brinsea 20 Octagon, so it's pretty crowded in there just now. I also have a large styrofoam still-air hatcher and another incubator that could be used as a hatcher for maybe 10 eggs. At the moment I have 9 duck eggs incubating in the hatcher and being hand turned. Annoyingly, they're due to hatch around the same time as the chicks, but there's still plenty of room in there.
I don't need to keep track of every single egg, but I'd like to keep track of small groups. I have 11 eggs that are the perfect colour, but 4 of them are slightly undersized, so I'd like to keep them in two separate groups. I have 2 that were sent on from a third breeder, 2 that are slightly too pale, and 3 that are slightly too dark. Of the 4 eggs from my own bird one is much bigger than the rest and I'd like to keep that one separate.
So I'm looking at hatching 7 separate groups of eggs: 7, 4 ,3, 3, 2, 2, 1.
I have a fortnight till they're due to hatch so plenty of time to buy wire mesh and construct little cages or whatever it is I need to do.
I also haven't candled yet so my estimates of numbers may be wildly over-optimistic!
Can anyone give me any advice on how best to sort out all my eggs and chicks?
But now I'm hatching a pile of eggs sent to me by another breeder, and I'd really like to keep track of everybody. I have 18 shipped eggs and 4 eggs from one of my own birds, I've numbered them all and marked their weights on the shells, and now I'm wondering how I can keep them all sorted out come hatching time.
I have 22 eggs in total all in a Brinsea 20 Octagon, so it's pretty crowded in there just now. I also have a large styrofoam still-air hatcher and another incubator that could be used as a hatcher for maybe 10 eggs. At the moment I have 9 duck eggs incubating in the hatcher and being hand turned. Annoyingly, they're due to hatch around the same time as the chicks, but there's still plenty of room in there.
I don't need to keep track of every single egg, but I'd like to keep track of small groups. I have 11 eggs that are the perfect colour, but 4 of them are slightly undersized, so I'd like to keep them in two separate groups. I have 2 that were sent on from a third breeder, 2 that are slightly too pale, and 3 that are slightly too dark. Of the 4 eggs from my own bird one is much bigger than the rest and I'd like to keep that one separate.
So I'm looking at hatching 7 separate groups of eggs: 7, 4 ,3, 3, 2, 2, 1.
I have a fortnight till they're due to hatch so plenty of time to buy wire mesh and construct little cages or whatever it is I need to do.
I also haven't candled yet so my estimates of numbers may be wildly over-optimistic!
Can anyone give me any advice on how best to sort out all my eggs and chicks?
