# First try incubating



## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

I'm going to start a batch (37) eggs on Friday night. I have an opportunity to get 23 more eggs to start but won't get them until 5 days later. Should I attempt to stagger the hatches?? How do you do this in one incubator when you aren't supposed to turn eggs some days or even open theschine? Also different humidity requirements at different times. Also, I have two old mercury thermometers in there and one new digital one. The digital one reads 1-2 degrees less than the mercury ones. Which one should I go by? The digital one is laying on the egg tray, the mercury ones are closer to the heat source. Any tips for a first trimmer?


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

kessy09 said:


> I'm going to start a batch (37) eggs on Friday night. I have an opportunity to get 23 more eggs to start but won't get them until 5 days later. Should I attempt to stagger the hatches?? How do you do this in one incubator when you aren't supposed to turn eggs some days or even open theschine? Also different humidity requirements at different times. Also, I have two old mercury thermometers in there and one new digital one. The digital one reads 1-2 degrees less than the mercury ones. Which one should I go by? The digital one is laying on the egg tray, the mercury ones are closer to the heat source. Any tips for a first trimmer?


 mark the different eggs so you know what is what.
i always go with the mercury one & have the best luck that way.
is the bator already up & runningup to temp?
if not get it going ahead of time.
i like my humidity to be 40% never over 50%
i bump it to 60% on day 18 (never let it go over 70%)
even if you have to pull the red plugs of slide the lid a little off to the side(but not all the way off)
i would worry about the larger group the 23 might hatch out a few too
any from the smaller group that hatch out will be a bonus

good luck
piglett


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

Thanks piglett! I have had the bator running for a few days now just to figure things out. The mercury reads two degrees higher than the digital so I'm going to go by 101 on the mercury and 99 on the digital and hope it'll be ok. The humidity is a bit more finicky though so I'm workin on it and will constantly monitor.


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

kessy09 said:


> Thanks piglett! I have had the bator running for a few days now just to figure things out. The mercury reads two degrees higher than the digital so I'm going to go by 101 on the mercury and 99 on the digital and hope it'll be ok. The humidity is a bit more finicky though so I'm workin on it and will constantly monitor.


also once you add your eggs the humidity will change
this is because eggs give off a little themselves.
there can be a big difference between a bator with just a few eggs in it & one that is full.

rite now i am running my hatcher with 1/2 of the water that i was using in it back durring cold weather. that is bacause it had been really dry in my house due to running the woodstove.

good luck piglett


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