Hatching Bantam and Standard Eggs TOGETHER

[CalBickieMomma]

Hello wonderful chicken people!

I'll be hatching a few standard breed eggs (Olive Eggers - the lady I'm getting the eggs from has Marans, Cream Legbars, and Ameraucanas) for a school project (we are going to be building a coop/run and have a few chickens at school). I also want to hatch a few Serama eggs with these ones (I'll probably put 4-5 Serama eggs in with the 6 or so standard eggs) and wanted to know the best method in doing so to have a successful hatch.

Should I put all the eggs in at the same time, OR should I let the standard eggs incubate for two days, then add in the Serama eggs (so that the lockdown day aligns for all the eggs)? I hatched Serama and Serama/OEGB cross eggs last year and they hatched out on Day 19, so I'm assuming these Serama eggs will have the same sort of time frame.

I'm not super worried if some eggs hatch out a day or two later/sooner than the others. I'm mostly worried about the turning mechanism shutting off and the change in humidity level for the Serama eggs happening too late in their development if it aligns with eggs hatching out on Day 21 vs Day 19. Or does it not really matter that late in development? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

- Jenna

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi Jenna,

You could maybe try staggering by one day. That'd be closer in case they don't actually hatch in 19 days. I hatch silkies that are often 19 days, but supposed to be 21, so know what you mean.

Otherwise, just put them all in and if you have to open the incubator up day 19 to get the Seramas out, hopefully the others won't have pipped yet. That few minutes drop in humidity won't hurt them. Best case scenario, they all pip on Day 20.

 

[CalBickieMomma]

Hi Jenna,

You could maybe try staggering by one day. That'd be closer in case they don't actually hatch in 19 days. I hatch silkies that are often 19 days, but supposed to be 21, so know what you mean.

Otherwise, just put them all in and if you have to open the incubator up day 19 to get the Seramas out, hopefully the others won't have pipped yet. That few minutes drop in humidity won't hurt them. Best case scenario, they all pip on Day 20.

Thanks!