The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Housing, Health & Hatching

Please help with incubation

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Christie Merrill:
We have a GQF 1502 Sportsman with a hatching tray on the bottom. Should we save eggs for three weeks then incubate them, or is it okay to add a batch to one shelf each week and hatch them at different times?

Thanks,

Kevin

John:
With 3 setting trays and one hatch basket setting eggs once a week works well.

Christie Merrill:
Do I increase the humidity? If so, it would be increased for three days each week.

Don:
The sportsman type unit was designed to continuously incubate and hatch eggs every week or two and lots of folks use them that way.  You will have to bump the humidity hard for the last 4 days or so to have the humidity for the hatching tray. Getting the 75% target this time of year is tough unless you have it in a damp basement.  Some folks use a small hovabator for hatching. 

Its great if you can buy another incubator of some sort for hatching to avoid the mess and cross contamination from the hatching eggs and drying chicks.  Its amazing how much down they shed the first few days and the fan will pick this up and distribute throughout the whole incubator.  The down will cover the water tray and clog any moisture pads as well as coat the other eggs.  Humidity will drop until you clean it all again.  If you decide to go this route, you might want to clean the unit pretty thoroughly when you pull the last chicks of each hatch.     Good Luck with your hatch!

Tailfeathers:
I have a Sportsman 1502.  I set every Saturday.  Move to hatching tray and candle every Wednesday.  I never mess with the humidity.  I keep it at 50-52.  Don't open the door unless absolutely necessary and shut as quickly as I can.  I'll spritz the eggs I put in the hatching tray just to get the humidity back up quickly after opening the door.  The humidity rises on it's own as the chicks start hatching.

God Bless,

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