[davebeccles]

What is the feeling about mixed hatching? I have done it on numerous occasions with great success but I know many are against it. As long as the hatched chicks are shifted to the brooder after 24 hours they don't seem to have any impact on the developing eggs. I am about to go again and wondered what peoples thoughts were?

Incidentally, my incubator isn't full yet. If anyone in Nth Suffolk wants some egg space, let me know, rather than running it with only 15 eggs in it.... I'll set it running when it's full sometime mid March.

Dave

[kegs]

I've had a go at a mixed hatch and whilst the table chicks hatched 9 out of 12 the pure breeds hatched 2 out of 9.

This article in this thread explains why it might not be a good idea.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=89862.0

[Casey76]

If you have a separate incubator and hatcher then it's OK.

As the conditions needed day 1-18 and 18-21 are different, and essential for the correct development of the chick, it isn't a good idea to trickle hatch in a single incubator.

I use a fully auto incubator for days 1-18 and a manual incubator for hatching.  Keeping two machines running is a bit of a drain on the electricity, but it means I can set eggs on a rolling basis, and move them to the hatcher when they reach day 18.

Last year i was hatching from late Feb to beginning of April without a break