Preparation: LG Still Air, Shipped Eggs, First Hatch DILEMMA! Help!

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Okay, guys. I'm setting up my new hatch. Eggs are due here tomorrow.. I'm getting 24+, and then I have some eggs from my own chickens to hatch. I'm using an LG Still Air, and have been researching, but need more clarification.

First off, how should I turn the eggs? Do I open the top window or open the ENTIRE incubator? Can I put the eggs in cartons and then just tilt the entire incubator either way to keep as hands-off as possible? I know the thing that is most detrimental to chicks is lost temperature and lost humidity..

Second off, should I even use cartons? I heard of some chicks pipping at the wrong end and dying from it? I don't know if this is rare, but the thought kind of scares me.

Third off, how long should I let the eggs sit? They'll be in the box for about two hours before I get home from school. Sitting outside. (It's obnoxious.) It's supposed to be 70 tomorrow and rainy, possibly. So, what should I do?

Fourth, temperature and humidity. For a still air, it should be around 101, right? The humidity should be 30-40%?

Thanks in advance, and please, if you have any other advice to get a successful hatch from shipped eggs in an LG, PLEASE tell me! I'm so scared about this all..

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Open the incubator and turn the eggs 3x per day. Ive heard of people tilting the whole bator, but wouldnt the water run out.

I always hatch in cartons. I poke holes in the bottom of each egg spot. That way if a chick does pip low, which has happend 3 times this year, they get air and should not perish.

Let the eggs sit for 8-12 hours large end up.

Still air should be around 101-102. Also, Ive seen MissPrissy say that you should move the eggs around the bator into different spots because there will be hotter and cooler spots in the bator.

Humidity about 30-40%. I dont pay attention to the humidity the first 18 days. I moniter the air sac. If it looks to small, I mist the eggs, too large, I add water in the incubator.

Hatching humidity should be around 65%.

Good Luck!

 

[addicted2chicks]

I am setting my eggs in my bator tomorrow. LG with egg turner. I got my first set of 12 today and 12 more due tomorrow. I can't wait to get started. This is also my first time and all from shipped eggs.

 

[BeccaOH]

That's this info is helpful to me too. I set my first batch of 38 eggs yesterday.

Best wishes, GEGchickies!

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

AHHH! I'm kind of freaking out.

Okay, so today, I got 18 (six extras, ohemgee) wonderful eggs, sitting on my doorstep, as they were supposed to be! Yay! I figured.. Okay, these can sit out for the night and then when the other ones come tomorrow (supposed to be shipped Monday), I can just let them sit for a little bit and then put them all in.

Well, I just checked my email.. Apparently, the other eggs weren't shipped until TODAY. Can these beautiful, wonderful, perfect eggs that didn't get broken at all during shipping sit out until Friday afternoon? We only have one incubator.. And my mom would not buy another. We don't even own this one.

On another note, I am very eggcited (hahaha) because I have successfully regulated my temperature in the 'bator! It seems to be holding perfectly.. Now I just need to nudge it up a smidge, and then worry about humidity.

 

[BeccaOH]

I had some timing issues like that too to worry about.

I'm told you should try to get eggs into the incubator withing the first 7 days after they were laid. Do you know when your first shipment was laid? You might be able to stretch it to 10 days, but the hatch rate may decline.

Unpack your eggs. Set them in an egg carton with points down. Put them in a place that is between something like 55-65 degrees for them to rest while you wait for the other eggs.

Someone else may be able to recommend how you would incubate two sets of eggs on different schedules, but I don't know about that. I'm thinking it would be hard, especially for a first timer.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Thank you so much for your help! The majority of them were laid last Friday, with only two I think of them laid Thursday, and some of them on Saturday.

I don't have an egg carton, but my mom is bringing some home.. I've put them in their bubble wrap, all of them points down (I think, the marans are really hard to tell.) Right now they're sitting next to me.. My thermostat says it's seventy in here. I don't really know where else to put them, though.. So would that be okay? It might be cooler in our basement, actually, I'll have to check.. But the eggs that I collected from my chickens have been in here at about 70-75. Did I ruin them?

They've been in here since Saturday-ish. I've been turning them three-ish times a day..