Hi everyone!! I am on day 16 of my very first time hatching, and my chickies are still moving around in the eggs. Ok my question is about day 18. I know I am supposed to stop turning them, do I stop turning and not turn at all on day 18, or stop turning after day 18? Also, my eggs are currently in an automatic turner, do I just shut the turner off and leave the eggs, or take them out of the turner and lay them in the incubator? Thanks in advance for the advice!!! I am getting excited and I don't want to mess up!! I started with 27 eggs, I tossed 5 that ended up with blood rings, and 1 more recently that had developed a chick but didn't make it. All of the other 21 eggs have chicks moving in them.
As for the turning...I always turn day 18....then not after that. Turn off the turner...and lay them in the bator. Just be quick...AND CAREFULL!! Several people have dropped them doing this. Oh, and whatcha hatching!???
How exciting! I have always unplugged my turner on day 18 (quit turning) and transferred the eggs to egg cartons for the hatching. If you use this method, be sure to place the eggs pointed side down in the cartons so that when the chicks pip, they will pip the air cell and not drown. The egg carton method is less messy. If you leave them in the tuner, boy you will have a mess to clean up then! And as justusnak stated, be very careful to not drop the eggs when transferring from the turner. Good luck and be sure to post the progress!
I always stop the turner in evening of day 18, I take the eggs out and set them on a big old towel til I get the turner out of the bator, I candle the eggs one last time, fill the water wells for higher humidity and then re-set the eggs down on the wire floor. Your temps and humidity are going to drop from taking the turner out so it takes a few hours for those to come back up! Happy hatching!!
Thanks everyone for the help!! I am tryinging hatch chicken eggs, if they make it they will be mostly mixed, for hens I have road island red, barred rock, white leghorn and an aracana, and my roo is an aracana.