Color me stupid and draw me a diagram - re: egg turning

[Luke13:34]

OK.. so 'bator is almost put together ("almost" in that I've looked at the parts on numerous occassions.. meant to really really do it twice.. and am now needing to get it done asap)... I will NOT have an automatic egg turner.

Now it looks to me like the auto turners simply make the egg go from leaning 45 degrees to the right to leaning 45 degrees to the left. Am I correct? How does one do this by hand? Do I need to have the eggs on an incline? Pointy side up or pointy side down, or is that the axis that gets rotated.

Should the eggs sit in an egg carton or directly on a wire rack??

If anyone knows of, or can upload, a youtube video of hand-turning eggs, I'd appreciate a linkidoo!


Also, should the lightbulb be above or below the eggs? If below, can I have eggs sitting on the wire rack directly above the bulb or will they get too hot?

 

[gryeyes]

I will answer one of your questions. Folks who hand turn their eggs use one of two methods, either raising one end of the incubator or an egg carton within the 'bator so it is tilted, then a few hours later, tilting the other side. Or they take each egg and turn it on its axis, not end over end, but pointy end always down. They often mark an X on one side and an O on the other, so they can tell at a glance that all eggs have been turned over to the other side.

Hope that helps.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Here's a link to the DIY incubators contest. It has a few with manual turners on dowels.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/chicken-coop-incubator.html

All I'm doing is using the bottom of a paper 18 egg carton on a 1" thick board under one end. Pick up the carton and turn around 180 deg. so other end is on the board. Not 45 deg slant but works for me. Eggs pointy end down allways if in holders.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

not stupid! took me a while to figure it out also... maybe it should be called egg tipping instead of turning

the other thing that I never understood is why vertical instead of horizontal, since they are on their side under a broody?

 

[gryeyes]

mmaddie's mom :

not stupid! took me a while to figure it out also... maybe it should be called egg tipping instead of turning

the other thing that I never understood is why vertical instead of horizontal, since they are on their side under a broody?

Not necessarily vertical, just turned on the long axis, pointy side down if they are held upright. I have three incubators which turn eggs on their sides; the eggs are not sitting upright.

But then I have 4 more incubators in which the eggs are held upright.​

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Quote:
Not necessarily vertical, just turned on the long axis, pointy side down if they are held upright. I have three incubators which turn eggs on their sides; the eggs are not sitting upright.

But then I have 4 more incubators in which the eggs are held upright.

... so they can be incubated on their sides? always thought "round side up".

edited to add... I think I need a diagram also.

 

[gryeyes]

mmaddie's mom :

... so they can be incubated on their sides? always thought "round side up".

edited to add... I think I need a diagram also.

Yes, you can incubate eggs on their sides. You STORE eggs pointy side down, large end up, to orient the air sac. And if you incubate them vertically, you want the large end up, too. Basically so the chick inside forms with its head up near the air sac.


See how the eggs are on their sides in this incubator.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Quote:
Yes, you can incubate eggs on their sides. You STORE eggs pointy side down, large end up, to orient the air sac. And if you incubate them vertically, you want the large end up, too. Basically so the chick inside forms with its head up near the air sac.


See how the eggs are on their sides in this incubator.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/41679_1stcochinjusthatched.jpg

Thank you... a picture is worth a thousand words!

 

[Luke13:34]

Quote:
Thank you.. that is similar to what I was thinking of doing. I have a cookie cooling rack I can fit into my foam cooler at an angle and wanted to know if I could just turn the egg carton around.

So if I do that, the pointy end of the egg should be DOWN, right?

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

here are some pics of my simple hand made turner. The handle can be as long or short as you need. The carton has to be balanced with equal rows on each side of the base pipe.