confused with egg hatching. do i rotate them?

[Flock Runner]

i know you can get some nice incubators that take care of the eggs for you but out of curiosity, is it true that a hen has to ratate the eggs every 2 hours?

 

[Stacykins]

Each time a hen shuffles, repositions herself, gets up for a quick drink or bite of food, she jostles and thus 'rotates' the eggs. She doesn't have a clock, but the eggs do get their share of rotation. If you have a broody setting on eggs, you don't need to rotate them. If you have an incubator without an egg turner, yes you will need to rotate them.

 

[Ukiah]

Welcome to BYC

You can get egg turners to turn the eggs, it's not the incubator itself, rather an attachment.

Rotating the egg is essential to be sure the insides of the egg don't become stuck to which
ever side of the egg that it is laying on. If this happens, it will become hard or impossible for
the chick to hatch.

Though theres not a 'specific' amount of turns, nor is it timed, Hens rotate their eggs alot
more often than we do when we hatch eggs in an incubator. If your hatching in an incubator,
turning the eggs 3-6 times a day will be plenty. I prefer to turn an odd number of times daily
so that the side that the egg is on through-out the night will change everyday.

Best of wishes

 

[the Pollo Loco]

so I've heard everyone say the same thing... till i experimented for myself with my still air

transparent hen. rotated 3 times for the entire incubation period, and had 100% hatch!!! was it a fluke? maybe... but i still turn them, just not as often as you might expect...

 

[cmom]

too. I have heard of successful hatches with never rotating but it's probably not the norm. I love my turners.