Too many eggs for incubator. What to do?

[sarabeth485]

Hi all. Just ordered my first batch of eggs from KC Quail and have a dilemma. My Janoel 12 incubator looks like it will hold maybe 20 eggs on the racks and with the extra they sent I have 36 jumbo eggs to incubate.

Should I take out the turning rack and fit as many as I can? I’d have to hand turn then and can only do this 3x per day.

Should I stagger when I set them thinking I’ll have some duds and fill up the gaps with a (labeled) second round? Not super ideal from a brooding standpoint.

Should I start with the biggest and hold the rest for a second round after the first hatches? Obviously this would have a big impact on viability.

Any other suggestions? They arrived yesterday and go in the incubator tomorrow.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

The chances the second batch would be viable after that long are almost nil.

Squish! Get as many as you can in the turners, put more around the outside, and then candle at day 10, pull the clears, and shuffle all the remaining into the trays.

 

[sarabeth485]

I haven’t checked to see if there is actually enough clearance but technically their are two “layers” of racks one for incubating and the lower one for hatching. If they fit could I put eggs on both levels or would it affect temps too much or be too cumbersome for turning?