Hand-turning eggs - do you do it overnight, too?

[wordgirl]

Newbie at incubating, so sorry if this is a silly question. I haven't gotten my eggs yet, but I want to make sure I know what I'm doing when I get them! Those of you who hand-turn your eggs - do you do it overnight, or is it just during the day? (I don't know if it makes a difference, but I'll be incubating duck eggs).

Also, if you've done both hand-turning and auto-turning - which method do you prefer, and which method have you found gives better hatchability?

Thank you!

 

[gryeyes]

I have never hand-turned eggs. I knew would forget. So I use auto-turners.

However, as I understand it, if you turn the eggs three times a day it's sufficient. One before you go to bed, one when you get up, and one partway through the day. One of my incubators turns eggs every hour, another every 90 minutes and two other incubators are always moving, slowly turning eggs through 180 degrees a few times a day. .

 

[AinaWGSD]

Not a silly question at all, especially since most of the auto turners I've seen are designed to turn the eggs 24/7 (albeit very slowly). When turning by hand, three times a day is enough and there is no need to turn overnight. Think of it this way, if a hen were setting the eggs she would be asleep at night, and therefor probably isn't turning the eggs while she's sleeping anyway.

I am currently on my first hatch (10 out of the 19 that made it to lockdown so far, yay!) and we turned by hand because an auto turner just wasn't in the budget. To help keep me from forgetting, I keep a small notepad by the incubator and jot down the time, temp, and humidity each time I turn the eggs. So far, I haven't forgotten...although I have almost forgotten once or twice and ended up turning the eggs much later than I had planned. I can certainly see the advantage of an auto turner. There have been several days where I've only been able to turn the eggs twice because I couldn't be home during the daytime to do the mid-day turn. But it doesn't seem to have affected the development of my chicks in this hatch. And I do like the fact that hand turning means I pretty much have to check on the eggs and gives me an opportunity to check the temperature and humidity throughout the day. It also means I candle perhaps more than I need to, because well gosh I'm already there anyway, might as well hold one up to the flashlight and see what's going on in there!

 

[wordgirl]

Oh, good. Knowing that I wouldn't have to do it overnight makes the option of hand-turning a lot more appealing if it ends up that I don't have an auto turner.

Yes - now that I think about it, AinaWGSD, it makes sense that a hen won't be turning her eggs when she's sleeping. Thanks, both of you!