Too many eggs in incubator??

[LittleBigBantam]

Hello everybody! I'm incubating eggs again. Last time I had an 11% hatchrate! This time I made sure temperature and humidity was correct and the eggs are doing alot better. So far only two out of seventeen were not fertile and the rest are healthy. This incubator has a turning tray that takes up unnecessary space so I removed and and I'm just hand turning them this time. So instead of 9 I have 15 in. Is there a max amount for how much space a chick needs to hatch?

 

[LittleBigBantam]

Oh and also they will not all be hatching at the same time. 5 of them will hatch Easter Monday and 10 will hatch the 28th. I have a backup for where to put the 10 eggs during the lockdown for the 5.

 

[MGG]

Nope they're fine. The top tray needs to come out though. Put some grippy shelf liner on the thinner bottom tray so the chicks don't splay their legs. I have fit 30+ eggs in that bator before. It should look like this in there. I use water cups because I like them better, but it doesn't really matter.

 

[LittleBigBantam]

Nope they're fine. The top tray needs to come out though. Put some grippy shelf liner on the thinner bottom tray so the chicks don't splay their legs. I have fit 30+ eggs in that bator before. It should look like this in there. I use water cups because I like them better, but it doesn't really matter.View attachment 2079784View attachment 2079785

Oh okay thanks! I've hatched chicks out of here before and I just put down either paper towel or some cloth. This time I did it without the Turner and I didnt know if they would have enough room, thanks!

 

[MGG]

Oh okay thanks! I've hatched chicks out of here before and I just put down either paper towel or some cloth. This time I did it without the Turner and I didnt know if they would have enough room, thanks!

No problem. I always just take out the top tray so the turning rod doesn't crack the eggs, and it's much easier to see them without the extra tray in the way. Fingers crossed for you! What breeds are you hatching?

 

[LittleBigBantam]

No problem. I always just take out the top tray so the turning rod doesn't crack the eggs, and it's much easier to see them without the extra tray in the way. Fingers crossed for you! What breeds are you hatching?

Well, 3 years ago we got our first batch from meyer hatchery, then a second, then a third, then we had 98 chickens, with no more than 4 of the same breed. Now we have 30 as we have the test away, but I know the dark brown is a copper maran egg, the blues are our Easter Eggers, the green-ish is our olive egger, the three bantam eggs are most likely either mille de fleur or frizzle, I believe the white is a black Sumatra, and I have no idea about the others. We had two roosters as of last week, a splash/grey silkie and an ameraucauna, but sadly our silkie got taken by a fox. So really none of these chicks are going to be anything near pure bred
Thanks for the help!

 

[ev_s]

Nope they're fine. The top tray needs to come out though. Put some grippy shelf liner on the thinner bottom tray so the chicks don't splay their legs. I have fit 30+ eggs in that bator before. It should look like this in there. I use water cups because I like them better, but it doesn't really matter.View attachment 2079784View attachment 2079785

Hey so if I have a Janoel 24 incubator could I say put 30 eggs in it if I remove the silly turner thing and do it manually? I have another crappy incubator I can put them in after hatching so that they don't disturb those that haven't hatched yet.

 

[ev_s]

Nope they're fine. The top tray needs to come out though. Put some grippy shelf liner on the thinner bottom tray so the chicks don't splay their legs. I have fit 30+ eggs in that bator before. It should look like this in there. I use water cups because I like them better, but it doesn't really matter.View attachment 2079784View attachment 2079785

Hey so doest that mean if I take the stupid turning tray out of my Janoel 24 incubator I can put say 30 in it? I have another incubator that I don't like I can put them in after hatching so that they don't disturb the eggs that haven't hatched.

 

[MGG]

Hey so doest that mean if I take the stupid turning tray out of my Janoel 24 incubator I can put say 30 in it? I have another incubator that I don't like I can put them in after hatching so that they don't disturb the eggs that haven't hatched.

Welcome to BYC!
Can you post a pic of it? I've never used that model.

 

[ev_s]

Welcome to BYC!
Can you post a pic of it? I've never used that model.