Newbie incubating first eggs

[tgrlily]

I've been trying to find chicks in my local area & haven't had much luck. Yesterday I impetuously bought eggs at the farmers market that I was told were fertile. Another person buying eggs from the same person told me he's been getting 10 or 11 chicks per dozen eggs. I had to stop & buy an incubator on the way home! My husband thinks I'm nuts, but this whole chicken thing was his idea... hehehehe. I wasn't planning on having mutts, but I'm sure I can sell some on craigslist or at the animal auction.

Can I put in eggs with different hatching dates in the same incubator?

 

[L*A*G*]

Q's first.
it's best to put them all in at the same time. since on day 18 u have to quite turning them and if u have a auto turner it will mess them up and on day 18 u change the humidity and i could be to high for some of them.

i hope u have a great hatch!!
some1 got bit by the chicken hatching bug

 

[Chickenteacher]

sure, but you might want to have a separate brooder for the earlier ones to move into so they don't disturb the later ones....

 

[tgrlily]

Thanks! I don't have a turner, but may be getting a second incubator. I made my first brooder last week & it was easy!

So I can whip up another one. I just can't wait to get some chicks!

 

[what was i thinking]

i will show you my set up when you come by...lol

 

[tgrlily]

That would be great! I picked up the second incubator today.. has a fan & egg turner.

 

[what was i thinking]

where did you get that local?

 

[UrbanFarmChix]

I did a bit of research on staggered hatching because I'm not sure my next batch of eggs will arrive after this first set. I think they'll come early. Anyway I don't remember where I picked it up but...

"Staggered hatches are a perfectly normal technique, commercial breeders do it all the time.

To do it effectively normally requires a separate hatcher.

Load one tray of a 3 tray incubator on day 1. Load the second tray on day 7 and the third on day 14.

On day 18 empty tray 1 into the hatcher for their final 3 days, and reload tray one.

Ya can see how this works now

Some points to note .....

The bacterial build-up in the incubator needs managing. So, use egg wash on all eggs (not normally required) and, every couple of months allow the incubator to empty, and clean it properly.

The hatcher doesn't have this issue as it is empty for 4 days in every 7.

A simple system like this would produce about 40 day old chicks per week, numbers can be increased or reduced if you want.
"
I just substituted the word "tray" for row or set of eggs, since I just have a 1588. It's easy enough to label them with set dates in pencil.
Best of luck on your hatch!

 

[tgrlily]

Dawn... got it on utica.craigslist. It's a little one with a fan & turner. He also has 2 larger ones. Nice guy, too.

 

[tgrlily]

Thanks, urbanfarmchix! That sounds like a great system.

I tried candling tonite, but I'm not very confident yet. I'm using Mink Hollow's candling charts & it looks like things are on track. I'll know better by saturday.