Day 4 candling success

[Hillschicks]

After 2 failed hatch attempts (no development) we started another...
Our day 4 candling last night showed 100% spider veins.. So far so good...
My question, the mini advance has a cool down feature to simulate the broody going to get food and water once a day... Its recommended to start that after the first few days... With our first hatch thats actually started to develop i am hesitant to screw with it... What do yall think?? Should we start the recommended cool down or stick with it aint broke, done fix it??

 

[Megan Amber]

I have never used this feature before. I do turn my own eggs by hand though so when I open the lid naturally cools down anyway. I might read product reviews on the model incubator and see what they said.

 

[Hillschicks]

Ive read many many reviews, but the cool down feature is relatively new i think... Not much on it... Im just gonna leave them be, and see how it goes... I think

 

[Megan Amber]

That's probably what I would do. Do you turn them by hand?

 

[Hillschicks]

Kind of... We use the automatic turner which appears to do a good job, but once a day i have been giving them a turn by hand just to make extra sure they are both turned and lined up in the tray in a way that would promote turning... The little women decided we would use the cool down feature... What the little women wants the little women gets so its on... One 60 minute cool down per day... The lowest it would go

 

[Megan Amber]

Wow! 60 minutes a day!? I have both incubated and watched broody hens and I don't think I have ever seen them get up for a whole hour,not even if you combine the time. Opening it up like you already do would probably be fine.

 

[Hillschicks]

True but i figure the moment a broody gets up the eggs are cooling... In the bator its just turning the heat off for an hour but thats not instant cooldown... I dont know, im going to research it here at work today and see what i can find out

 

[Megan Amber]

Wishing you the best of luck. Let us know what you find out.

 

[Hillschicks]

I couldnt find much to be honest... We decided to turn the cooling feature off... In the end we decided people have been hatching eggs for thousands of year without a cool down feature, better to just leave it alone

 

[Megan Amber]

Excellent decision. That is what I was hoping you would do!