Do you hav to do lockdown and what exactly is it?

[HammondRawlsHill]

Hey guys so I have read some posts that you shouldn't do lockdown but a lot of people still do lockdown so I just wanted to know what exactly is lockdown and what day do you do it?

 

[igorsMistress]

What are you hatching? Lockdown is simply not turning the eggs and increasing humidity before hatch. Usually two or three days before hatch day. You don’t want the eggs turning while the chicks are trying to hatch and increased humidity will help keep the inner membrane from drying out and shrink wrapping the chick, which can keep it from hatching and result in death.

 

[HammondRawlsHill]

Oh well I'm hatching chicken and peacock eggs, and only one peacock egg Is due this week, so do i have too, or is there ways around it? It seems critical but the other eggs are not as close to hatch day as the peafowl eggs. So I was just wondering.

 

[HammondRawlsHill]

The other peafowl eggs came five days after. (I know. She lays WeIrD.)

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

Yes you should do lockdown. Just imagine being a chick trying to hatch while a turner is flipping you around. That would be really difficult!

The extra humidity prevents shrink wrapping the chicks.

All of this mimics what a hen does. A hen will get off her eggs once a day (average) until she hears the chicks beginning to hatch and then she stays on her nest until they are all finished. Since an incubator is just a dumb machine the 3 day lockdown covers the whole time an egg might be hatching.

 

[HammondRawlsHill]

Thanks by the way.

 

[HammondRawlsHill]

But what about the other 9 eggs in there? They are not hatching soon. Won't this affect them?

 

[neo71665]

Lockdown is just the term we use. A momma bird will quit rotating her eggs when she hears the babies peeping in the shell. It's a natural process.

Yes not rotating effects them all, why you shouldn't mix hatch dates in an incubator. I wouldn't even have mixed chickens and peafowl. The incubation periods are different.

 

[HammondRawlsHill]

But what about the nine other eggs?! There not so close to hatch day at all?!

 

[SilverBirds]

But what about the other 9 eggs in there? They are not hatching soon. Won't this affect them?

Eggs need to be turned or the embryos can get stuck to the shell which can lead to deformities and hatching troubles. What model are you using?