Egg turner unplugged 24-48 hours. What's the likely outcome?

[haTHOR]

Set eggs Friday night and one of the kids unplugged turner sometime later Sunday OR Monday.. I found it and turned it back on Tuesday evening.

What's the likely damage--tell me the truth, doc!

 

[Wyandottes7]

The eggs will probably be fine. A couple days without turning is unlikely to make a huge difference in the hatch. I suggest candling them in a few days and seeing how they are developing.

 

[Orca5094]

How far along are the eggs? Seems the most important time for turning is within the first week of incubation, after that I think a couple days without turning is much less damaging. I'd do as Wyandottes7 said and candle in a couple days to see how they look.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

The eggs will probably be fine. A couple days without turning is unlikely to make a huge difference in the hatch. I suggest candling them in a few days and seeing how they are developing.

x2

 

[Ridgerunner]

Even though it was early in the incubation, they will probably be fine. What I’m going to tell you may scare you but don’t let it. They will probably be fine.

There are a couple of different reasons to turn eggs early in incubation. When the body parts are forming turning helps them form in the right place. This does not mean they won’t form in the right place even if the eggs ae not turned. They probably will. Turning simply helps them.

The other reason is that if the developing chick or the yolk touches the inside of the shell, it can get stuck there. It may dry out too much through the porous shell and die or get stuck there and can’t move to pip.

Chicken eggs don’t need to be turned after about 14 days. All the body parts have formed by then and a membrane has formed around the developing chick that protects it from the shell. It is traditional to keep turning them until lockdown. They don’t need to be turned this late, but it is convenient to stop turning them, raise the humidity, and go into lockdown at the same time.

If either of these problems develop, the parts in the wrong place or the chick or yolk getting stuck, the chick will probably keep developing until late in the incubation but die without hatching.

Now, why am I so certain they will probably be fine? The same type of thing happened to me. About the same time frame my turner slipped from the track. Thinking back on it when I finally noticed it was at least a full day and probably closer to two days. I hatched 23 out of 25 eggs that started to develop and they were all normal. I’ll take a hatch like that any time.

Good luck, you’ll do great, but keep that kid away unless you are supervising.