new to incubation need some guidance

[jwillyletson]

i have a new incubator and have just set it up per instructions given by the manufacture. that being said ive gathered a few eggs a couple days ago and intend on incubating them, but was wondering if the eggs would survive if they have been at ambient temperature (70-80 degrees) for the short amount of time while i set up the incubator?

 

[AmericanMom]

i have a new incubator and have just set it up per instructions given by the manufacture. that being said ive gathered a few eggs a couple days ago and intend on incubating them, but was wondering if the eggs would survive if they have been at ambient temperature (70-80 degrees) for the short amount of time while i set up the incubator?

I gathered eggs for 8 days and left them sitting on the counter in an egg carton pointy end down, I had a book on one end under the cartons and would change sides two or three times a day...There were days even with my air conditioning it was 75 in the house and mine are progressing nicely in my incubator. (I am on day 12)

 

[AmericanMom]

I gathered eggs for 8 days and left them sitting on the counter in an egg carton pointy end down, I had a book on one end under the cartons and would change sides two or three times a day...There were days even with my air conditioning it was 75 in the house and mine are progressing nicely in my incubator. (I am on day 12)

Also, I allowed my incubator (i'm a newbie here too) to run for two solid days to make sure the temp was holding where I wanted it before I added the eggs....

 

[AmericanMom]

i have a new incubator and have just set it up per instructions given by the manufacture. that being said ive gathered a few eggs a couple days ago and intend on incubating them, but was wondering if the eggs would survive if they have been at ambient temperature (70-80 degrees) for the short amount of time while i set up the incubator?

What kind of Incubator do you have... I have a Hova Bator 1602N Still air

The only issue I have had was with the humitity,I let all the water evaporate because I couldnt get the humidity below 54% without dropping my temp below what the manufactor says it should be, once all the water was gone it stayed at around 44% so I added about 1/8 cup and its holding good at between 45-47% once lockdown occurs I am sure I will have to fill both of them but watch it pretty close so as not to go over 70%

 

[jwillyletson]

great! i was worried about loosing them. i have a still air incubator that has maintained humidity and temp for a couple days now. alright next question. should i put all of the eggs i want to hatch in at the same time or can i date them and put them in as they are gathered. my hens are sporatic about laying even though ive mixed pepper flakes in with there food. i typically gathered 1 or 2 a day for the past few weeks, but they seem to be slowing down recently. so i guess my concern is if i have to put eggs in the bator atthe same time what to do with the others for the 21 day overlap.

 

[AmericanMom]

great! i was worried about loosing them. i have a still air incubator that has maintained humidity and temp for a couple days now. alright next question. should i put all of the eggs i want to hatch in at the same time or can i date them and put them in as they are gathered. my hens are sporatic about laying even though ive mixed pepper flakes in with there food. i typically gathered 1 or 2 a day for the past few weeks, but they seem to be slowing down recently. so i guess my concern is if i have to put eggs in the bator atthe same time what to do with the others for the 21 day overlap.

I would gather them then put them all in at once, after ten days the hatchability drastically decreases... I gathered for 8 days, my hens were sporatic one day I would get 2 eggs, the next day I would get 4... I ended up after eight days with 33 and didnt want to risk the age of that first egg... out of those 26 have made it thus far
after your eggs go in the bator the ones you gather after you can always eat

 

[AmericanMom]

great! i was worried about loosing them. i have a still air incubator that has maintained humidity and temp for a couple days now. alright next question. should i put all of the eggs i want to hatch in at the same time or can i date them and put them in as they are gathered. my hens are sporatic about laying even though ive mixed pepper flakes in with there food. i typically gathered 1 or 2 a day for the past few weeks, but they seem to be slowing down recently. so i guess my concern is if i have to put eggs in the bator atthe same time what to do with the others for the 21 day overlap.

I guess I didnt really answer your question, some folks do staggered hatches, but they usually have a couple incubators, one for incubating and one strickly for hatching.. at day 18 your going to "lockdown" which means your going to up your humidity and leave your incubator alone for hatching, an egg thats been added to the incubator several days after the first one wont survive the lockdown...

 

[jwillyletson]

thanks for the help. hopefully i will have some cute lil chicks here soon. would you suggest buying eggs online and if so where would be a good place to look?

 

[AmericanMom]

thanks for the help. hopefully i will have some cute lil chicks here soon. would you suggest buying eggs online and if so where would be a good place to look?

I bought a few eggs off ebay but had serious problems with it, I'm going to get the hang of incubating before I try it again...There are alot here that do buy online that can help you better than I can.

 

[jwillyletson]

sounds like a wise plan. so what neds to be do to the chicks when they hatch? ive read to leave them in the bator till there dry and fluffy, but how,what and when do i feed n water them? how long do i need to keep them in a brewder before introducing them tothe flock?