Newbie confused

[Brie6895]

Since that morning I walked outside and found a baby chick my fiancé and I have been super excited about more baby chicks. Today I went and bought a cheap little 50$ still air incubator. We have one egg that we ended up pulling out of the nesting box because no one was sitting on it. He left it on the counter the last two days i should add. When I candle it i can see an eye and the embryo looks about the size of a quarter. He decided to go ahead and place that one in the incubator even though I have been reading all day and it looks like you should place them all in the incubator at one time... He won't listen and is impatient so in goes that egg.

So my main question is where do I keep the eggs I am planning on incubating until I have about 15? I gathered 3 this evening and so far they are on the counter. I've read something about keeping them 55 degrees which I'm not sure how I would do that or why, and I've also read to just leave them on the counter, can anyone with experience give me a straight answer?

Right now I have those 3 little side facing down in an egg carton on my counter. I'm hoping in about 3 days I should have about 15 eggs and that's when I want to start the initial incubating..

Also! Any tips for a first timer. Please I've read some things online but I love more information.

 

[Brie6895]

One more thing.. Should I discard the egg my fiancé has placed in there? It appears to still be alive based of of the lovely YouTube videos I have watched. Lol I'm just worried since it has been about two days since we pulled it out from the nesting box and that it spent a night wrapped up in a paper towel in our garage then to an incubator that it will not come out right? My husbands initial thought before we decided on the incubator was to just keep it warm.

 

[AmericanMom]

If I am reading this right the lone egg was placed on the counter and it was warm enough in your house to start incubation? And so its now in the incubator and you are waiting to gather more eggs to add to that one but it could be a few more days??

That is called a staggered hatch and it could go goo or bad, many here do it but they typically have two incubators, I haven't done it for fear the higher humidity would kill the remaining eggs... I hope someone with more experience can help you here.

 

[Brie6895]

If I am reading this right the lone egg was placed on the counter and it was warm enough in your house to start incubation?  And so its now in the incubator and you are waiting to gather more eggs to add to that one but it could be a few more days??

That is called a staggered hatch and it could go goo or bad, many here do it but they typically have two incubators, I haven't done it for fear the higher humidity would kill the remaining eggs...  I hope someone with more experience can help you here.

Yes you are correct. Should I just get rid of the more developed egg. And try to keep my gathered eggs for the next few days in the coldest room of my house? I'm not sure why I'm suppose to keep them at 55 degrees. Or how I can control the temperature. Thank you for your response!

 

[AmericanMom]

Yes you are correct. Should I just get rid of the more developed egg. And try to keep my gathered eggs for the next few days in the coldest room of my house? I'm not sure why I'm suppose to keep them at 55 degrees. Or how I can control the temperature. Thank you for your response!

I wont tell you to get rid of the more developed, I probably would but your not me and I wouldn't want to tell anyone to discard a live egg, I guess it would depend on whats more important to you, the one egg or the 15 you want to set
as for keeping them stored at around 55 degree's thats so they don't start incubating until you are ready to start all of them at once... I don't keep mine that cool, they sit in an egg carton on the tile where our wood stove sits where its cool because of rhetoric air conditioner I would say it doesn't get over 70 degree's there..... good luck with your hatch!!

 

[Brie6895]

Ok thank you! So far I have 8 eggs! I want to add that I purchased the little giant still air incubator. I didn't get the egg turned but reading reviews now it seems that this incubator has trouble staying constant temp and humity with the amount of times you have to open it to manually rotate the eggs and fill with water. If I got the egg turner would I just have to open it about once a day to fill with water??

I'm thinking about taking it back and going to get the farm innovators pro series circulated air incubator. Since it already comes with the air circulator and egg turner. Right now I am having a hard time getting mine above 41 degrees humidity.

 

[spotsplus]

I've hatched eggs together that went in at different times and it worked out fine. You want to keep the eggs in a cool place so they don't start developing on their own schedule and will start to develop at once when you put them in the heat of the incubator

 

[Brie6895]

Well tonight is the night! I have 14 eggs I've got my humity at 57 and temp at 99.6
I went ahead and got the egg turner

 

[calichicken]

Well tonight is the night! I have 14 eggs I've got my humity at 57 and temp at 99.6
I went ahead and got the egg turner

Hi

and congrats on setting your eggs! I have a still air bator and I keep humidity at about 40-45% highest until lockdown..then raise to 70% for the hatch. Most important is keeping temp consistent . There is a thread August Hatch-a-long... you should join us! Great to have support and see everyones progress

 

[Brie6895]

Hi and congrats on setting your eggs! I have a still air bator and I keep humidity at about 40-45% highest until lockdown..then raise to 70% for the hatch. Most important is keeping temp consistent . There is a thread August Hatch-a-long... you should join us! Great to have support and see everyones progress

Thank you ill definetly follow that one.
What temp do you keep yours on? Should I bring my humidity down some?