emergency incubator question

[piggyinthepink]

So I rigged up an incubator using a heating pad in a plastic tote lined with hoodie and potty pad for insulation and have been hand turning multiple times a day. about 60-70 percent of eggs seem good at this point.
My PROBLEM is lockdown...I worry the eggs may overheat on one side from not turning them. Is there any way I can slightly agitate egg without messing with the position of the chick much? Also do chickens in the yard 'stop turning' for the last few days?

Thanks ahead of time! Love this community! Posting as emergency, I can get photos if requested.

 

[Weeg]

So I rigged up an incubator using a heating pad in a plastic tote lined with hoodie and potty pad for insulation and have been hand turning multiple times a day. about 60-70 percent of eggs seem good at this point.
My PROBLEM is lockdown...I worry the eggs may overheat on one side from not turning them. Is there any way I can slightly agitate egg without messing with the position of the chick much? Also do chickens in the yard 'stop turning' for the last few days?

Thanks ahead of time! Love this community! Posting as emergency, I can get photos if requested.

Do you have a desk lamp that you could use instead? I saw a DIY incubator someone created once where the heat source was a desk lamp instead of a light bulb. They took a large Rubbermaid container, and the eggs, lamp, water, etc in that. Maybe you could do something like that instead of the heating pad?

 

[NatJ]

Also do chickens in the yard 'stop turning' for the last few days?

No, chickens do not stop turning for the last few days.

People have done experiments with various amounts of turning (especially for the large incubators in hatcheries), and that is what the usual advice is based on: what amount of turning usually produces the best rate of live, hatched chicks with the common types of incubators.

But since your incubator is not the same as most, you might have to do things differently than what most others do.

My PROBLEM is lockdown...I worry the eggs may overheat on one side from not turning them. Is there any way I can slightly agitate egg without messing with the position of the chick much?

I don't know for sure, but here are several ideas I thought of:

You could turn some eggs in the last days, and leave other ones unturned, and then see if there is a difference in how well they hatch. Then you would know for future batches.

You might be able to roll the eggs a little bit to one side, then a little bit back the next time-- that would change what part is actually sitting on the heat, but without turning the egg all the way over, so it might not have too much effect on the position of the chick.

You might put a few more layers of insulation under the eggs at lockdown time, so they are further from the heating pad. That would reduce how much heat reaches any side of the egg. By lockdown time, the chicks in the eggs are creating some heat of their own, so they do not need quite as much heat from outside themselves.

Have you measured the temperature right where the eggs are sitting? (I mean surface temperature, not air temperature.) Eggs under a hen are in direct contact with her body, which should be about 105 to 107 degrees. If your eggs are sitting on a surface no hotter than that, they might be just fine with no turning.

 

[piggyinthepink]

No, chickens do not stop turning for the last few days.

People have done experiments with various amounts of turning (especially for the large incubators in hatcheries), and that is what the usual advice is based on: what amount of turning usually produces the best rate of live, hatched chicks with the common types of incubators.

But since your incubator is not the same as most, you might have to do things differently than what most others do.


I don't know for sure, but here are several ideas I thought of:

You could turn some eggs in the last days, and leave other ones unturned, and then see if there is a difference in how well they hatch. Then you would know for future batches.

You might be able to roll the eggs a little bit to one side, then a little bit back the next time-- that would change what part is actually sitting on the heat, but without turning the egg all the way over, so it might not have too much effect on the position of the chick.

You might put a few more layers of insulation under the eggs at lockdown time, so they are further from the heating pad. That would reduce how much heat reaches any side of the egg. By lockdown time, the chicks in the eggs are creating some heat of their own, so they do not need quite as much heat from outside themselves.

Have you measured the temperature right where the eggs are sitting? (I mean surface temperature, not air temperature.) Eggs under a hen are in direct contact with her body, which should be about 105 to 107 degrees. If your eggs are sitting on a surface no hotter than that, they might be just fine with no turning.

I'm afraid "lockdown" isn't livng up to it's name. I gently picked them up and temped underneath this morning, placing back in same exact position. The temp reads 110F underneath/around them. With 3-4 turns a day they have kept optimal temp, but I worry without the turning I could cook them. How thin of insulation? like one more potty pad(already using one)

 

[NatJ]

I'm afraid "lockdown" isn't livng up to it's name. I gently picked them up and temped underneath this morning, placing back in same exact position. The temp reads 110F underneath/around them. With 3-4 turns a day they have kept optimal temp, but I worry without the turning I could cook them. How thin of insulation? like one more potty pad(already using one)

I don't know what amount of insulation under them would be right-- maybe one more potty pad would do it, or maybe put a few layers of bath towel in between? I don't know how much heat goes through how many layers

 

[piggyinthepink]

I don't know what amount of insulation under them would be right-- maybe one more potty pad would do it, or maybe put a few layers of bath towel in between? I don't know how much heat goes through how many layers

Miraculously the temp has been at 105F, I don't want to touch anything. Been checking every few hours. Fingers crossed nothing changes and lockdown continues as it should, closed. If temp goes up at all I'll try adding one more potty pad or maybe a pillow case.

 

[IsabellarBarnesChickens]

Miraculously the temp has been at 105F, I don't want to touch anything. Been checking every few hours. Fingers crossed nothing changes and lockdown continues as it should, closed. If temp goes up at all I'll try adding one more potty pad or maybe a pillow case.

how did your hatch go?