First Time Incubating

[usschicago1]

Okay I made a thread the other day saying first time hatching with a broody. Well Just my luck shes not broody anymore! WoW!

Stupid !
Anyways im going to do it in an incubator. Its a Hovabator and i need to turn it bye Hand. Do You recommend turning 2,3,or 4 times a day? In the directions it says 2 times, On one side and X and on the other an 0 . So That means the eggs would only be in two positions? Is that Okay? and If turning 2,3,or 4 what times do you do it? I cant do it between 7-230 on weekdays.

And humidity should i fill the vent plug? All the way. There only going to be 6-12 bantam eggs. I Cannot afford to mess on on these eggs since i dont think i can afford more.
Thanks
All Tips on anything to do with hatching welcomed.

 

[bigstack]

3 times is actually better or any odd number over 1. lol
The reason is to not allow the eggs to lay on the same side every night. 3 is a minimum. I preffer 5 but that is just me.

Good Luck and God Bless!

 

[usschicago1]

Quote:
Thanks! So How Long In Between? Also Do I ever go in between the "X and the O" sides or always directly on those sides?
So If I turned them at 730 from 0 to X and 230 from x to 0 and at 9 from 0 to x and repeat that everyday Itll work?

 

[usschicago1]

With 50,000 members and nearly 1000 online someone has to have some more advice for me

 

[4-H chicken mom]

First you need to calibrate your hygrometer to see if it is accurate. I label my eggs A, B, C, and D on each 1/4 of the egg. I turn 5 times and keep a record of each night what letter is up so you are not on the same letter for the longest time period every night. Temp 99-99.5 Humidity 50-55% last three days increase to 65%. I would fill the water trays first but put some dry sponges in the bator right at the beginning so they will be in place to be used when needed at the end. Make sure you can add water preferably threw a tube directly to the sponges. Good luck.