Small batch/weekly incubation

[oberhasli01]

My concept is to have a few (2-3) hens and to incubate their eggs. I understand eggs will keep for about a week before needing incubated. So if I'm wanting to hatch out most of the eggs these hens lay, I'm looking at maybe 10-15 eggs per week. Most of the things I've read on incubating is all in/all out (put a batch in, go through the 21 day process and start over) procedure. If I want to hatch a small batch weekly, do I need 4 incubators? That seems a bit pricey on start up. Is there an economical incubator that I can basically run all the time and each week hatch out a batch and reload a new batch?

 

[rebel yell]

To start out with, I would build one, they are not hard to build & mine works allot better than some store bought jobs, i love it, working on a mini fridge bator right now & its coming along great, i guess its the challenge to.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
You'll need a rooster, too!

You could get by with 2 incubators, one for incubating and one just for hatching. Just each week move the eggs due to go into lockdown into the hatcher. When they hatch, clean it and get it ready for the next weeks hatch.

I just did a hatch that way, it worked out pretty well.

 

[acid_chipmunk]

That is what we do. Our incubator is an old Pepsi fridge from store with a glass door and 4 shelves in it. We add eggs pretty much weekly and haven't had any hatching problems. We just mark the date on the egg that we put it in the bator and go from there.

 

[oberhasli01]

Quote:
I figured out the rooster part! <G> I raise dairy goats and I have an Alpaca breeder that buys colostrum to feed newborns and she had no idea the does had to give birth to come into milk (and the reason she's buying is because her animals gave birth!) and didn't know the males didn't give milk either so I appreciate not assuming anything when giving an answer.

The two incubator system sounds workable. The primary one will need to be big enough to hold 4 weeks worth of eggs but that, in theory at least, shouldn't be over 60 eggs, and then a smaller one to hatch out each week's eggs. I had thought about getting in on the Brinsea incubator sale/discount but maybe I'll have to enlist my son's "handyman" skills to build a couple. I'm about the least mechanical person to ever have walked the earth and would fear that anything electrical and me would result in disastrous results.

Thanks for the help!