Starting staggered hatching adventure

[aart]

We shall see.

I'm picturing you like my avatar, but juggling eggs instead of chickens!
Good luck!!

 

[Redhead Rae]

I'm picturing you like my avatar, but juggling eggs instead of chickens!
Good luck!!

And a full time work from home job....

And a nursing toddler....

And...and...and.........

 

[WVduckchick]

Today, I moved all the eggs that won't be hatching next week into the Brinsea and candled the 5 eggs that are supposed to hatch next week. I didn't candle them yesterday, even though I candled EVERY OTHER egg. All 5 still have little wigglers in them. YAY!

While all the eggs fit, I don't have much room for setting Cornish eggs next week. I have 7 Chocolate Orp eggs from the first dozen, 11 CO eggs from the second dozen, 1 egg from the 4 they laid since they got here, and 8 Cornish eggs. That is 27 eggs. The incubator holds about 28 eggs. If the Cornish give me 4 eggs next week. This could be a problem. I may have to do another aggressive culling of eggs to get the space I need. I want to set my eggs on Wednesday so I don't mess with my hatch routine down the line, but I don't know if I'll be able to cull enough eggs to make it work.... We shall see.

Cull a few cochin eggs. Several of those are probably full breed bantam cochins. Pick some of the lighter colored, matte finish eggs. Or compare to the current chocolate eggs, and keep the similar ones.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Cull a few cochin eggs. Several of those are probably full breed bantam cochins. Pick some of the lighter colored, matte finish eggs. Or compare to the current chocolate eggs, and keep the similar ones.

The lighter colored, smaller ones actually all were clear or had blood rings, at least from what I could tell. There are a few more that are questionable, but I left them and I'll assess next week.

 

[Redhead Rae]

This is why I don’t want to shift my hatch dates. I have 4 hatches in 3 weeks. Hopefully after the CO eggs move into the incubator, things will be easier.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Ok, so I just candled all my eggs not on lockdown. I removed one more egg from the first lot of Chocolate Orp eggs., it had a blood ring, and one more egg that was practically clear from the second set of eggs. It had a few TINY veins last week, but hasn't progressed at all and looks nothing like the other day 13 eggs. The 4 Cornish eggs that I confirmed were fertile last week have progressed and are still wiggly. The 4 Cornish I set last week are all fertile as well.

So that is 6+11+8=25 eggs

That means I have room for 3 eggs.

But I already have 4 Cornish eggs this week. I haven't collected eggs today and I will be waiting until after egg collection tomorrow to set eggs.

So... here is a question.....

Since I don't want to shift my hatch dates. is it better to.....

1. Move the 6 eggs CO eggs that are due to go into lockdown on Friday into lockdown 2 days early....
2. Try to find a place in my incubator (not in a turner) to place the extra eggs until I move the other eggs into lockdown...

What do you guys think?

 

[Redhead Rae]

@WVduckchick

I now have 5 Cornish eggs to set this week. That means there are 2 eggs I don't have room for.

 

[aart]

I now have 5 Cornish eggs to set this week. That means there are 2 eggs I don't have room for.

Another incubator and hatcher?
Or just slow down
Not sure what the goal is here.
To set every egg possible, or to keep both incubator and hatcher going constantly??
Wonders about brooders...or are you selling these chicks as day olds.

 

[WVduckchick]

Increasing humidity a couple days early for some eggs won't likely hurt them much. Or if there's a place to stack them until they are all ready for lockdown, I've done that too. Lol

 

[Redhead Rae]

I want to hatch every Dark Cornish egg that hits the ground. I want to start a breeding/food generation program

I have a starter incubator and a lockdown incubator. The starter incubator is overflowing.

The influx of Banty Cochin/Chocolate Orp eggs were a bonus when I bought the Chocolate Orps from @WVduckchick and I wanted to hatch them because of the high probability that they will be broody birds. They threw a wrench into my plans.

Increasing humidity a couple days early for some eggs won't likely hurt them much. Or if there's a place to stack them until they are all ready for lockdown, I've done that too. Lol

Stack them?