Remove the egg turner for hatching?

[NyxxBoy]

New member here, I have referred to this site for many questions I have had for many months but finally created an account to ask a specific question:

I am coming to the time in hatching to where I need to turn the egg turner off and let the eggs hopefully hatch. This is our second attempt at hatching. Our first attempt, out of 16 eggs, 2 broke a hole in the shell but none successfully hatched. I took the eggs out of the turner and lay them on the side, I increased the heat as the eggs were further away from the heating element and I added water. In my uneducated opinion I am thinking maybe I should not have messed with the temperature? Or should have left them in the turner?

I have read different opinions on helping the chickens out once they start to break out. We opted to not help(much to my wife's chagrin). She thought the shells were too hard for the chicks to break out of and that doesn't seem possible to me.

We obviously did something wrong last time I just don't know what. It had to be temperature related or humidity related I assume. Should I try again to take them out of the turner and not adjust the temp? Or leave them in the turner(but not turned on) and keep them the same distance from the heat source?

I hope I have included enough information for some advise on how to get some successful hatches out of this new batch? Thanks in advance for any help...

 

[AmishThunder]

I would take them out of the turner and lay them on their sides. My first hatch I left them in during hatch and they didn't have enough room. Only 3 out of 24 hatched. Now that I lay them flat on their sides they have a much better hatch rate. On the temperature I either leave it at 99.5 or lower it to 98.5 if some have hatched and the others are taking much longer than the first ones. It is very humid where I live and I was having trouble with "sticky chicks" until I tried the dry hatch method. I help the ones that fail to fully hatch but only after the rest are done hatching, Half of the helped ones die within a week and 1/4 of the ones that survive have curled toes in my experience. What kind of Incubator are you using?

 

[NyxxBoy]

Thanks for your info... I have a little giant incubator and also the egg turner that ones with it...

 

[Lizz9311]

Do you have any sort of hygrometer/thermometer in the incubator? I have a LG still air incubator, too. My first hatch I attempted last year with the turner that came with it. I didn't get anything out of that hatch. My second hatch had a lot of issues and was still a learning curve. I'm on my third hatch now. I no longer use the automatic egg turner, but keep the eggs in egg cartons and Jenga pieces to prop up one end of the carton. At turning time, I move the Jenga piece to the other side of the carton. I also have 3 thermometers and 2 hygrometers because I've read LGs are notorious for inconsistent heating.

This time around, if I were you, I'd probably take the eggs out of the turner and lay them flat, add the water, but don't touch the temperature gauge at all.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

It's much easier for the chick to escape the shell if it's laying on it's side rather than standing straight up in the rack.
I don't change the temperature setting either, I see no reason to mess with it.

 

[NyxxBoy]

Thanks both of you, I have a thermometer a have kept it set right at 99.5 and it sometimes shows a little above...
We are about to lay them on their side, add water and remove the turner... Hopefully we will have some good news here in the next few days!

 

[ChickenLegs13]

It's not going to keep a constant temp anyway. I keep my forced air @ 100* but the cycle it makes as the thermostat kicks off & on ranges from 99.5-100.5 or close thereabouts @ the top of the eggs while in the racks.
Good luck, hope you have some quick zipping healthy chicks!

 

[NyxxBoy]

Wife just sent me this picture of our first ever successful hatch, said 4 more eggs have a crack in them so hoping I can see one hatch after work

 

[Lizz9311]

Congrats!