Advice: Hand turning shipped eggs, but traveling for 2 days!!

[fightingbunny]

I am incubating shipped eggs and stood them up in an egg carton instead of laying them down on their side. My incubator has an automatic turner, but the eggs have to be on their side in order to use it. I am going to just gently tilt them 3x a day (legos under side of carton) and do quarter rotations like I read on some of these threads. However, we are going to not be home for 2-3 days and a neighbor is going to check the water levels on the incubator. I don't think I can expect her to hand turn my eggs and I was wondering if it would be okay to lay them down on their sides at some point and go to the auto turner? I started them on 3/17 and we will be gone 3/30 to 4/1. So roughly day 14 to 16 if I have the math right.

The eggs were very rolly inside when I candled them before starting them. I tried 3 of them this morning (day 3? or is it 4?) and everything seemed to be staying in place. What day can I see if anything is even alive? This might be a moot point as they looked pretty scrambled when I got them. The seller didn't mark the package as fragile or as having eggs, so they were not treated gently.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[WVduckchick]

The air cells normally firm up by day 8-10 at the latest, so you should be safe to lay them down by the time you leave.
As far as seeing growth, day 4 is possible with a good light and if the shells are easy to see into. Day 7 for more difficult colored eggs.

Good luck!

 

[fightingbunny]

So if I started them in the incubator Saturday morning....what day is it today? I know I saw that clarification in a guide somewhere on how to do the math, but I can't find it now!

 

[WVduckchick]

Today is day 3. I think of the first 24 hours as day Zero. If you set on Saturday, they should hatch on Saturday.

 

[fightingbunny]

I see veins and hearts!!

 

[WVduckchick]

I see veins and hearts!!

 

[fightingbunny]

This may be a dumb question, but if you incubate on the side versus upright, does it cause the yolk and heart/vein mass to be located differently? I see some candling videos were the yolk is towards the top (like mine) and others were it is sort of in the middle.

 

[WVduckchick]

Not a silly question. Totally freaked me out when I candled duck eggs that were laying down, because I had always incubated chicken eggs upright. The yolk still rises, so whatever is up, is where it will tend to go. And the development happens on top (meaning on the "side" of an egg laying down). And when you roll the egg, it will slowly gravitate back to the top. This is why turning is important to encourage the CAM growth to encompass the whole egg.

I took this in mid-roll. Call duck egg, about day 7, I think. All the veins on the right were on top.

 

[fightingbunny]

I am no longer sure that what I thought was the "air sack" was really air. I think I was seeing the yolk moving around in the shipped eggs and assuming that any movement meant that they were shaken too much. How do I know what is the actual air area? Will it be more clear when I candle at 7 days? I have been bad and candling every day. Also, my light source is on my incubator so the light is below the egg and thus the "pointy" end. Will that make it harder to determine where the air sac area is?

 

[WVduckchick]

I am no longer sure that what I thought was the "air sack" was really air. I think I was seeing the yolk moving around in the shipped eggs and assuming that any movement meant that they were shaken too much. How do I know what is the actual air area? Will it be more clear when I candle at 7 days? I have been bad and candling every day. Also, my light source is on my incubator so the light is below the egg and thus the "pointy" end. Will that make it harder to determine where the air sac area is?

Are you using the Nurture Right? You can carefully lay the egg down, or even turn it over. The air cell should be in the fatter end. Candling thru the pointy end is ok, but the real good stuff to see is better from the air cell end.
The air cell is on the left side in this pic. Call duck egg after 5 days incubation.



My favorite candler is just a Mag-lite flashlight, with some craft foam wrapped around it, with a hole cut.


The air cell should be a distinct contrast from the rest of the egg