Wow, what a setup you have! I do a lot of staggered hatches also but I incubate in a cabinet bator and hatch in a hova bator. I have 4 baskets crammed in there. I probably could've made it work with just 2. Maybe I'll change it. I don't know yet lol. I locked them down yesterday but just put the baskets in today (I just drilled the holes in them today). I should've double checked my water troughs before I stuck them in there.Gotcha! I've had excellent luck with my baskets. Hasn't seemed to make any difference as far as hatching. I put mine in a basket/baskets to keep the mess contained first and foremost...and I always stagger hatch so it keeps me from turning the wrong eggs by accident. I LOVE the dollar store and their baskets!! 'Cause that's where I get mine too!
Ok, the chicks stay sort of contained...lol. I did use a plastic container with higher sides and no perforation to contain the last hatch I had. I have a lot of air movement...but I found it worked fine too.
I also use wire stationary racks to stack the eggs to get more eggs in...although that can be a bit hairy (and scary)
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I band like Draye to keep them separated. Just bought bands for the chicks a couple of days ago...lol.
Father/daughter, mother/son are acceptable in alot of breeds if it's done very, Very, VERY responsibly...BUT I've had people try to tell me that sister/brother and close, CLOSE relationships like that are a go.
I'm like...
(but that's just me)
The bottoms on my trays are solid and I keep them that way so it keep theinside. BUT, I only put the eggs in the solid bottom trays on day 18. I thought I'd better note that. Your baskets are nice baskets!!
still debating what to set for easter.
basque, EE's, OE's, or Rocks.....
decisions, decisions.....
I know what Yokel would do!
Set all the eggs!
I have done hatches with a local preschool the last 2 years. The first year we didn't have many hatch even though we used my Brinsea. We figured out that the temps dipped on the weekends too much for the Brinsea to compensate for - it would get down to the 40's in the classrooms over the weekend. Last year I incubated the eggs at home and just brought the incubator in for the hatch. Worked out great. Of course, my favorite part of the whole thing is teaching 20 - 25 preschoolers to go "Peep!...Peep!...Peep!..." all day to encourage the eggs to hatch!Just got a mini brinsea (the autoturning one, but not autohumidity) classroom pack for the school. My son is in First grade, so we're going to give little talks to his class weekly while the eggs incubate in class, and the chicks can hang out a couple days until I bring them home (before they get really messy). I plan to set it the same time my cabinet incubator is loaded at home, in case of classroom casualties/to be sure viable eggs make it to hatch.
Can't wait to show them candling and doing weekly weights/charting, etc. I plan each week to show them highlights of what happened inside the shell that week. Looking forward to it!
My other son will be in 1st grade next year, and I just may keep going back if they'll have me. I love teaching those little curious faces!
I have done hatches with a local preschool the last 2 years. The first year we didn't have many hatch even though we used my Brinsea. We figured out that the temps dipped on the weekends too much for the Brinsea to compensate for - it would get down to the 40's in the classrooms over the weekend. Last year I incubated the eggs at home and just brought the incubator in for the hatch. Worked out great. Of course, my favorite part of the whole thing is teaching 20 - 25 preschoolers to go [COLOR=006400]"Peep!...Peep!...Peep!..."[/COLOR] all day to encourage the eggs to hatch!
