moving from incubator to hatcher -- should I?

[amazondoc]

Hey guys --

It's coming up on time to move my first batch of eggs from the incubator (Sportsman 1502) to my hatcher (Hovabator with fan). I had planned to move the eggs from the incubator to the hatcher for two reasons: 1. to keep the incubator clean; and 2. to avoid messing with the humidity in the incubator while other eggs are still cooking.

Now I'm having second thoughts. Mostly, it is because the temperature in my hatcher is MUCH less stable than in my incubator. Anyone reading this who knows Tennessee, knows that temps can swing wildly during the winter. For instance -- today our high temp was over 70, but tomorrow the low will be under freezing. Now, these changes have only made the room temp fluctuate a few degrees, but nonetheless my hatcher temp has gone from 100 to about 103. The Sportsman has stayed exactly on 100 for temp, although the humidity rose from 47 to about 55. Obviously, the humidity is easy to deal with -- I simply removed a vent plug, and now the humidity is right back down where I wanted it.

Anyway -- I'm rethinking whether to move the eggs. Should I leave em in the Sportsman? It does have a hatching tray. I am worried about contaminating the incubator, AND I'm worrying about the effects on the younger eggs if I raise humidity for the hatching eggs.

What do y'all think?? To move, or not to move?

 

[Jamie821]

how far along are the other eggs in the sportsman

 

[amazondoc]

I'm adding eggs once a week. I've got one set that are currently 15 days old, one set at 8 days, and one set that I just put in yesterday.

I plan on continuing to incubate every week, so this is going to be an ongoing issue.

 

[Jamie821]

no to far apart if you leave the newer eggs in the sportsman and up the humidity for the hatch you will hurt the other eggs. I am doing the same thing I have three different weeks in also what i do is move the ones to hatch to another hatcher. The temp arent as important at the end as they are in the incubation period so I leave the newer eggs where the temp is more stable. The chicks fixing to hatch are providing some of their own heat when they get that close to hatch. Just keep the hatcher temp and consistant as you can .

 

[Mrs MIA]

I've been curious about this, too, since I just fired up my brand new 1502. The instructions talk about staggered hatches, but how can you raise the humidity for a hatch when you have newer eggs in there?

I need to read the instructions a little more. I plan on hatching in cartons, which keeps the incubator cleaner...

 

[Wildsky]

Quote:
For that reason, I would take a chance and move the eggs - you don't want to try CLEAN that sportsman out in a few days, and you can't leave all the left-overs in there while the others continue for three weeks.

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
For that reason, I would take a chance and move the eggs - you don't want to try CLEAN that sportsman out in a few days, and you can't leave all the left-overs in there while the others continue for three weeks.

Cleaning probably wouldn't be all *that* big of an issue, since the hatching tray is removable -- you just pull it out to clean the major junk. But there likely would be fluff floating around.

That said, I probably will go ahead and use the Hovabator hatcher. I'm nervous about the fluctuating temps, but this first hatch will probably not have many good eggs anyway (they were old eggs when I first set them, and then I had them in another Hovabator for a week before the Sportsman arrived), so there will be little loss even if there *are* problems. And I gotta figure these things out some time!

Thanks for the input!