We have a Dickey 2 x 2 Incubator with groups of eggs with several hatch dates - from a few days away to a few weeks away. Our first batch went on lockdown last night. How do we handle humidity for those on lockdown and the other eggs not ready for lockdown?
I'm afraid there is no real way to handle this unless you have a seperate incubator/hatcher. You need the humidity up for lockdown so the chicks can hatch safely. This is then a risk for your younger eggs as they need lower humidty to be able to lose enough moisture and the air sac to grow adequatly. If you have an auto turner I would remove this so hatched chicks don't get trapped. This means you will have to hand turn younger eggs that still require it. Opening could be a risk for lockdown eggs as they could become shrink wrapped. I say could as this may not happen but then again it may. There is no way to tell for sure. These are your eggs and you need to do what you feel comfortable with. You will also need to watch for hatched chicks knocking younger eggs around. This is not a problem when chicks are fully formed and ready to hatch but for developing embryos it could cause damage. Could you maybe put younger eggs in egg cartons to protect them and turn them by proping one side of the carton up? Staggered hatch is not something I practice for these reasons and once I lockdown that's it I don't open the incubator again untill hatch is complete. Good luck with your eggs