Staggered hatching dates

[Letticethemagpieduck]

hello, I am currently incubating 8 eggs. Three of which will hatch a week earlier than the others (at day 12 today, others are at day 6) what do I do when it comes to lock down for the first lot? Since I can’t open the incubator I won’t be able to turn the other eggs.
Also my other eggs all have detached air sacks from being posted and are currently standing upright in the incubator. When it comes to hatch can they hatch like this? Is there another method? Thanks x

 

[HuskerHens18]

Do you happen to have another incubator or know someone you can borrow from?

 

[PaulX]

If you turn the eggs until day 16, then you can stop turning.

http://dev.biologists.org/content/develop/5/3/293.full.pdf
Identifies that the most critical period of chick egg turning is from 4th to 7th day.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.858.1743&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Finds that turning chick eggs beyond the 8th day doesn't improve hatchability.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2cff/e9d9281e036fd01344cfdcfff6e0014d8729.pdf
Even goes so far to saying that turning chick eggs beyond 12 days actually hampers hatchability rather then improve it.

@WVduckchick told me on another thread that when something called the CAM network is fully developed, then you can stop turning. I did some further research and found that for chick eggs, the CAM is fully developed by day 12, in line with the three papers above. For duck eggs, that day is day 16.

So I have stopped turning my eggs since day 16, and now at day 22, none have died on me yet (the last death was around day 13).

For hatching position, I'll look at the air cell shape on lockdown day. If it's saddle-shaped, then I'll hatch upright. If it looks normal, then I'll hatch on the sides.

Good luck.

 

[Letticethemagpieduck]

Do you happen to have another incubator or know someone you can borrow from?

No I don’t unfortunatly

 

[Letticethemagpieduck]

If you turn the eggs until day 16, then you can stop turning.

http://dev.biologists.org/content/develop/5/3/293.full.pdf
Identifies that the most critical period of chick egg turning is from 4th to 7th day.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.858.1743&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Finds that turning chick eggs beyond the 8th day doesn't improve hatchability.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2cff/e9d9281e036fd01344cfdcfff6e0014d8729.pdf
Even goes so far to saying that turning chick eggs beyond 12 days actually hampers hatchability rather then improve it.

@WVduckchick told me on another thread that when something called the CAM network is fully developed, then you can stop turning. I did some further research and found that for chick eggs, the CAM is fully developed by day 12, in line with the three papers above. For duck eggs, that day is day 16.

So I have stopped turning my eggs since day 16, and now at day 22, none have died on me yet (the last death was around day 13).

For hatching position, I'll look at the air cell shape on lockdown day. If it's saddle-shaped, then I'll hatch upright. If it looks normal, then I'll hatch on the sides.

Good luck.

Thank you, this information is great x

 

[WVduckchick]

If you turn the eggs until day 16, then you can stop turning.

http://dev.biologists.org/content/develop/5/3/293.full.pdf
Identifies that the most critical period of chick egg turning is from 4th to 7th day.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.858.1743&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Finds that turning chick eggs beyond the 8th day doesn't improve hatchability.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2cff/e9d9281e036fd01344cfdcfff6e0014d8729.pdf
Even goes so far to saying that turning chick eggs beyond 12 days actually hampers hatchability rather then improve it.

@WVduckchick told me on another thread that when something called the CAM network is fully developed, then you can stop turning. I did some further research and found that for chick eggs, the CAM is fully developed by day 12, in line with the three papers above. For duck eggs, that day is day 16.

So I have stopped turning my eggs since day 16, and now at day 22, none have died on me yet (the last death was around day 13).

For hatching position, I'll look at the air cell shape on lockdown day. If it's saddle-shaped, then I'll hatch upright. If it looks normal, then I'll hatch on the sides.

Good luck.

Nice research!! I hope you have a great hatch!

 

[WVduckchick]

No I don’t unfortunatly

I would recommend waiting one extra day to increase humidity on the first group of eggs. So 2 days prior to their scheduled hatch date instead of 3. Then let those hatch. When you remove the chicks, check the later set of eggs. You may need to reduce the humidity back down, or it may be ok to leave it up, depending on how well developed that later group is. A couple days of higher humidity shouldn’t hurt them.

 

[Madie'sOddFlock]

I've been wondering the same thing because the first time I incubated I had 32 eggs from 7 different days... This time around I have 12 from 3 days, and I'm hoping that it'll go a little bit better. The first time I had a live rate 12.5% and a hatch rate of 25%... Seeing if I can get those up a bit this time...
But honestly, it's worked just fine. I waited until day 19 to take out the egg turner, had bumped up the humidity day 17 because I had struggled just to keep it at 40% for the rest of the time. I'm pretty sure that the 8 that hatched were from all different days, and if I had been able to keep the humidity better under control I'm sure a majority of those who had pipped would have had a better shot at hatching.
So honestly, I'd rather keep doing staggered hatches than storing the eggs and waiting until I have enough.

 

[WVduckchick]

40% humidity in the early days would likely drown mine. It’s so humid here, I have to run 20-30% to get them to lose enough moisture throughout incubation.

For those struggling with humidity issues, you might benefit by checking out the article in Red in my signature block below (turn phone sideways to show on mobile)

 

[Madie'sOddFlock]

40% humidity in the early days would likely drown mine. It’s so humid here, I have to run 20-30% to get them to lose enough moisture throughout incubation.

For those struggling with humidity issues, you might benefit by checking out the article in Red in my signature block below (turn phone sideways to show on mobile)

Last time I had 2 or 3 that shrinkwrapped during lockdown, and one on like day 16... not totally sure how I just know it happened. Here it really depends on the time of year. I've just let it be for right now because I've been at a steady 47-49% dry incubation...
Like so many say, it really depends on where you live. But honestly, I don't think it's something to be too concerned with during a staggered hatch(at least with what little experience I have).