Egg Turned During Lockdown.

[Mwewe]

So, I have a very crummy, cheap incubator, and probably not the best eggs. I had one batch of 6 eggs, only two hatched, and I had to cull one of them.

I had bought 15 at once from a guy because he refused to sell anything less than 12 eggs, ate 2 of them that were laid that day (they were delicious!) and then did two batches.

This second batch had 7 eggs, 2 of which I dispatched very early on, as I had bought a welsummer to produce brown eggs, and need to keep my flock small. 2 eggs had clearly stopped developing around day 10 of incubation, so now I'm left with 3 eggs (2 olive, 1 blue) incubating. They were suppose to hatch yesterday.

I am petsitting, so I'd been home infrequently to turn the eggs and had asked on a couple occasions for someone else to turn them for me. On Sunday, I alerted one of those people that the eggs were on lockdown and not to touch them. Well, on Sunday, the other person who had turned them for me came back from a trip, and I forgot to alert them to the lock out as well.
I assumed they thought me asking for help was on a request basis, not a routine. I checked on the eggs earlier on the hatch date, nothing. Then I checked them again a hour ago, and they had been turned.

They might have been turned all throughout the lockdown, without me knowing. Perhaps this is the reason they are hatching late?? I candled them when I saw what was going on, and all 3 are still alive, I carefully put them back to the last position.

If they are late to hatch because they were turned during lockdown, should I help them out, or wait a bit and see? I don't want them to run out of nutrients or air being in there too long, especially if they might have gotten stuck in the wrong position.

Are they still viable?

 

[nchls school]

The turning, by itself, would not hamper incubation or hatching. Broody hens do not stop turning their eggs. But opening the incubator would cause temperature and humidity fluctuations that could effect hatching. When you candled, if the eggs had not internally pipped then my advice is to wait. If they had pipped it is harder to advise. No matter what you do it could be the wrong or right thing to do. You decide-no matter what you're taking a chance.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

So, I have a very crummy, cheap incubator, and probably not the best eggs. I had one batch of 6 eggs, only two hatched, and I had to cull one of them.

I had bought 15 at once from a guy because he refused to sell anything less than 12 eggs, ate 2 of them that were laid that day (they were delicious!) and then did two batches.

This second batch had 7 eggs, 2 of which I dispatched very early on, as I had bought a welsummer to produce brown eggs, and need to keep my flock small. 2 eggs had clearly stopped developing around day 10 of incubation, so now I'm left with 3 eggs (2 olive, 1 blue) incubating. They were suppose to hatch yesterday.

I am petsitting, so I'd been home infrequently to turn the eggs and had asked on a couple occasions for someone else to turn them for me. On Sunday, I alerted one of those people that the eggs were on lockdown and not to touch them. Well, on Sunday, the other person who had turned them for me came back from a trip, and I forgot to alert them to the lock out as well.
I assumed they thought me asking for help was on a request basis, not a routine. I checked on the eggs earlier on the hatch date, nothing. Then I checked them again a hour ago, and they had been turned.

They might have been turned all throughout the lockdown, without me knowing. Perhaps this is the reason they are hatching late?? I candled them when I saw what was going on, and all 3 are still alive, I carefully put them back to the last position.

If they are late to hatch because they were turned during lockdown, should I help them out, or wait a bit and see? I don't want them to run out of nutrients or air being in there too long, especially if they might have gotten stuck in the wrong position.

Are they still viable?

No, turning would not hamper the hatching. Delayed hatches are most normally the product of temps being slightly low over the course of the incubation. If you don't have your own accurate and checked thermometers and hygrometer in the bator, I highly suggest you do before another hatch. If you are going by an incubator's gages (especially little giant and farm innovators) then chances are they are way off and most likely the culprit.

You can not safely "help" a chick that has not externally pipped and been externally pipped for 18-24 hours and have had the egg to chick vascular system shut down. As long as there is life and movement, there's a chance. It just might be a delayed hatch by a day or two.