Anyone Using an auto turner?

[denasfarm]

I have noticed in candling the eggs that those in the turner have a bruised ring where they flop back and forth as the turner rotates.
My current batch of Silkie eggs are being hatched without the turner and do not have the ring. I am hoping for a better hatch rate...I will post that answer in a week.
Anyone else notice this?
Has anyone padded the turners?
Do you think the "bruising" could or does cause some chick mortality?

 

[Katy]

I've incubated a lot of eggs in a turner and never noticed anything like that.

 

[AngieChick]

I didn't notice anything like that.

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

I'm with Katy...

Perhaps your turner 'trays' are not fitted to your eggs properly, giving them more room to move around.

What kind of turner are you using? Sounds like a circumstancial problem.

 

[denasfarm]

Its the turner that goes in the Hovabator 1588. Its yellow if that helps. I would have to search for the box to tell you the exact name.
It holds 42 chicken eggs (7 in a row)and has quail sized pieces you can swap but they are too small for Silkies. Even the EE and Marans eggs end up with this ring, slight on some of the larger eggs and very noticable on others.
The ring is just right where the lip of the hole the egg is sitting in pokes out and most if not all the way around the eggs. Most usually still hatch! It looks kind of like a quitter but still have living veins going around.

Clear as mud?

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

I would take the turner out at the first available opportunity and sterilize it, you may have bacteria on it that is affecting the eggs. It is rather strange though, as I've incubated many a Silkie egg in the exact same turner and never had the problem.

The only other thing I can think of would be that the motor has some internal breakage with the gears and instead of a slow smooth transition, it is doing it very quickly.

 

[denasfarm]

I dont think its bacteria. I sterilize everything inbetween every hatch, every time.

You can hear the eggs all go flooomp each time it gets to the maximum tilt of each side. It is my first and only turner so I thought it was 'normal'.
I will contact the manufacturer and see what they think.

I hate to open the bator so much to hand turn but I was really beginning to wonder if the turner was doing more harm than good.

 

[Katy]

I'd check with the manufacturer. I've got 3 turners and none of them cause the eggs to go flop when they get to the downward part of the turn. They all move so slowly and at such small increments that there's no rapid movement at all. It sounds to me that something is slipping the gears that's causing that to happen. Maybe some teeth have been broken off the gear at some point in time.

 

[Bokeeliachick]

I think I have the same turner as you in my HB 1583.
Mine moves so slowly that my daughter did not even think it was working. Maybe something is wrong with yours.....
I had 18 eggs in mine and 15 hatched.

Lynn

 

[Smokin Silkies]

I have an auto turner in my LG bator and, although, this is my first hatch, I am on day 19 and I have not noticed any rings around mine... they dont flop around in there. I have 15 eggs left out of 22 in there and they are all silkies. But I am using a diif turner than you....