MARCH Hatch-A-Long 2015: Please Read the First Post to JOIN the H-A-L

[scflock]

Is anyone doing a staggered hatch or have experience with staggered hatching? I ask because I have been holding off on starting my incubation until my shipped Phoenix bantam eggs arrived, but due to the weather they won't be shipped until next week & I have 1 egg from each of my own hens ready to incubate now. I want to start my own eggs & then add any viable shipped eggs when they get here, but this will be my 1st time incubating & I'm not sure I can pull off a successful staggered hatch. Any tips would be most appreciated & welcome!

How old are the eggs you are holding? If it were me, and they were less than 10 days old, I would wait for the Phoenix eggs. Just keep them cool, dark, and turn them a couple of times a day. I picked up a cool tip from Bev Davis' website for turning eggs you are holding. Put them in a carton, put a book under one end of the carton, then move the book from one side to the other a couple of times a day. I have pretty good luck with eggs collected from my flock up to about 2 weeks

 

[ChickyChickens]

Quote: X2!! Good info!

 

[bramblefir]

I ended up setting 48 eggs on Valentine's Day for a March 7th hatch date. There were 5 clears on day 5 (all from the same hen, so she must be avoiding all three roosters) and then on day 10 there were 3 quitters. I'm down to 40 eggs in the incubator - all look to be developing well and moving around!

 

[ChickyChickens]

I ended up setting 48 eggs on Valentine's Day for a March 7th hatch date. There were 5 clears on day 5 (all from the same hen, so she must be avoiding all three roosters) and then on day 10 there were 3 quitters. I'm down to 40 eggs in the incubator - all look to be developing well and moving around!

Please don't forhet to sne dme the info as the chicks ahcth!

 

[rainbowchick]

Is anyone doing a staggered hatch or have experience with staggered hatching? I ask because I have been holding off on starting my incubation until my shipped Phoenix bantam eggs arrived, but due to the weather they won't be shipped until next week & I have 1 egg from each of my own hens ready to incubate now. I want to start my own eggs & then add any viable shipped eggs when they get here, but this will be my 1st time incubating & I'm not sure I can pull off a successful staggered hatch. Any tips would be most appreciated & welcome!

A breeder friend of mine said that she learned about a research paper at a conference once that explained how to lengthen viability of eggs. I can't find the paper online, so this advice comes "take it or leave it"...
The research showed that if you incubated eggs for 30 minutes each week, you could extend viability all the way up to three weeks. So, it seems like you'd incubate 30 min at the end of week one, then again at the end of week two, then put them in the bator at the end of week three (or sooner).
Seems like she told me that the change in viability was comparable to the change between 7 day old and 10 day old eggs.
Again, since I can't find the paper, I can't guarantee results...

 

[uzisuzuki]

How old are the eggs you are holding? If it were me, and they were less than 10 days old, I would wait for the Phoenix eggs. Just keep them cool, dark, and turn them a couple of times a day. I picked up a cool tip from Bev Davis' website for turning eggs you are holding. Put them in a carton, put a book under one end of the carton, then move the book from one side to the other a couple of times a day. I have pretty good luck with eggs collected from my flock up to about 2 weeks

A breeder friend of mine said that she learned about a research paper at a conference once that explained how to lengthen viability of eggs. I can't find the paper online, so this advice comes "take it or leave it"...
The research showed that if you incubated eggs for 30 minutes each week, you could extend viability all the way up to three weeks. So, it seems like you'd incubate 30 min at the end of week one, then again at the end of week two, then put them in the bator at the end of week three (or sooner).
Seems like she told me that the change in viability was comparable to the change between 7 day old and 10 day old eggs.
Again, since I can't find the paper, I can't guarantee results...

Okay, maybe I'll wait. I wasn't sure they would be good after 2 weeks (they were just laid yesterday), but it seems like they'll still have a decent chance. Thank you!

 

[scflock]

Okay, maybe I'll wait. I wasn't sure they would be good after 2 weeks (they were just laid yesterday), but it seems like they'll still have a decent chance. Thank you!

Laid yesterday? Absolutely hold them. You may get a few more to add before the Phoenix get here
I started collecting Polish yesterday for next Friday's setting

 

[rainbowchick]

Okay, maybe I'll wait. I wasn't sure they would be good after 2 weeks (they were just laid yesterday), but it seems like they'll still have a decent chance. Thank you!

Found a paper! Don't think it's the same one, but it definitely validates my post:
http://www.hatchtech.nl/aboutus/art...Profile on Hatchability and Chick Quality.pdf

 

[bramblefir]

Sure thing!

 

[paris_r]

Found a paper! Don't think it's the same one, but it definitely validates my post:
http://www.hatchtech.nl/aboutus/art...Profile on Hatchability and Chick Quality.pdf

...... No interaction was found between storage time and pre-warming profile for hatchability and chick quality....so a null result.