Do I need an egg turner?

[coyoteugly]

I have an LG still air incubator and am getting ready to start my first batch of eggs. Now I am debating whether or not to get an egg turner. I've read opinions that go both ways. The temp in the bator has been stable at 100 - 101 for 3 days, if I DO decide to add the turner will my temp have to be adjusted again? Pros and cons of a auto turner?

 

[Edwards' East of Eden]

I cut holes in the bottom of a styrofoam 1doz egg carton, for drainage just in case, and cut the lid off it. Then I cut a section of 3/4" PVC pipe the length of the egg carton and hot-glued the pipe to the underside of the egg carton, long ways. The carton sits on angle on the PVC and the wire, and I just lean up one edge of the lid and rock it the other direction every so often.

It moves your eggs up higher in the incubator, so you'll want to adjust for what the temperatures actually are there apparently. I have a second egg carton, done the same way, in my LG Still Air with a PC fan added in, and I tied my zip-lock rigged water wiggler to that egg carton so it doesn't fall off. That's where my main thermometer is, tucked into the water wiggler, with an alarm set to go off if the temperature gets too high.

So far it seems to be working. I could fit three egg cartons in the 'bator, and with the water wiggler in place I could probably incubate thirty eggs or so at a time, if push came to shove. I'm currently just running with eleven, though. However, I sure would hate to be hand-turning even just those eleven!

Lots of people put a book or a 2x4 under one side of the bator and just move it to the other side to lean the incubator the other direction. I have cats, though, and was afraid not to have the incubator sitting firmly flat on the table.

 

[coyoteugly]

that is genius

So if I understand correctly, you leave the eggs in a carton - big end up - and rotate the carton a few times a day?

What do you do at lockdown? Can the chicks hatch IN the cartons?

 

[coyoteugly]

Quote:
That is . . . rotate the carton side to side a few times a day.

 

[Muggsmagee]

Quote:
Do you "need" one? No. Is it a whole lot easier? IMO...YES! I've had 4 LG's...hatched a bazillion eggs with them. Find a different thermometer than what comes in the box. Wally world sells digital thermometers that measure humidity ($10 or less).

Pros to a turner: it does the turning FOR YOU! Less worry of making sure you turn them 3+ times a day. Less interference of opening the bator and risking cooling the eggs too much.

You won't likely need to adjust the temp on the bator with the addition of a turner. The temp should be taken at the top level of the eggs ... the height of the eggs will obviously change putting them in a turner. 101 is a PERFECT temp for the still air LG's.

Cons: I only have one... The turners don't hold goose eggs and large duck eggs.

 

[Edwards' East of Eden]

Ha!

Yes, I rock the two (or three, if I used the other one, too) egg cartons to the other side three times a day, minimum - but always an odd number of times. Takes just a second to roll a dozen at a time in the opposite direction, and the lid's closed again. I don't even take the lid off, just lean it up on one side far enough to put in a couple of fingers and rock it over.