Hatching eggs -which way is right

[Ticci89]

Hello, im wondering if i should take my eggs out of the turner and put them on the side or would it be better to leave them in the turner point down (if safe and turn the turner off) or put them point down in an egg carton? I cant find any info anywhere as to what is suggested, i had 24 eggs in the incubator and only 13 hatched and even then i had to help a few. What would you suggest to do?

 

[jeepgirl13]

13 out of 24 is a pretty good hatch rate, especially if it was your first time incubating. I just set 40 and ended up only having 3, one of which I had to help out and was splay legged. Were working on fixing that now. I attributed this to eggs coming from an unhealthy, older flock.

There is a TON of info and different opinions on here about the "right" way to incubate, but the all around consensus is the right way is the way that works for you. There is not any one way that is going to work for everyone, because we live in all different climates and elevations.

As for the egg turner and hatching position, many people use the turner so they dont have to open the bator constantly to hand turn eggs, and out of convenience. A lot of us aren't home all day to babysit like that.

When the time comes for lockdown and hatch, most people remove the turner and hatch laying down, so the chicks have room to rock and roll as they're hatching, and to reduce risk of injury from someone getting stuck in a bad spot on the turner. Although, you will find many people leave it in, or hatch upright in egg cartons. Usually this is due to an issue with shipped eggs, but others do it because it is what is comfortable and what works for them.

Ultimately, is a matter of experimenting, and finding what you are comfortable doing, and what gives you the best success rate. I personally use the turner till day 18, then remove it. This was my largest set yet, I've never done more than 24, and I had 16 of those successfully hatch. 3 were infertile and 3 quit in the first 7 days.

 

[R2elk]

Hello, im wondering if i should take my eggs out of the turner and put them on the side or would it be better to leave them in the turner point down (if safe and turn the turner off) or put them point down in an egg carton? I cant find any info anywhere as to what is suggested, i had 24 eggs in the incubator and only 13 hatched and even then i had to help a few. What would you suggest to do?

The standard method is to remove the eggs from the turner and place them on their side. Some people when dealing with shipped eggs believe it is beneficial to keep the eggs upright throughout incubation and lockdown because of the bad or detached air cells that can be encountered when dealing with shipped eggs.

I have had no issues with hatching eggs on their sides or hatching them upright in egg cartons.

Use whichever method that you prefer. If one method seems to work better than the other method, stick with the method that works best for you.

 

[Matilda Belle]

Take the turner out during lockdown.

 

[slordaz]

Hello, im wondering if i should take my eggs out of the turner and put them on the side or would it be better to leave them in the turner point down (if safe and turn the turner off) or put them point down in an egg carton? I cant find any info anywhere as to what is suggested, i had 24 eggs in the incubator and only 13 hatched and even then i had to help a few. What would you suggest to do?

one thing to note, incubator instructions are done for sea level so don't work if your not at see level and each incubator is different, and if your over 5k in elevation it's a whole different set of issues. So your area and elevation make an impact on what your gonna need to do to get a good hatch rate as well if the eggs are laid locally at near the same elevation or are from a different one. Personally at higher elevations I get a better hatch rate with laying them down on their side , but have to incubate in one and hatch in another. because of the humidity required to hatch it makes the one go nuts and kill my hatch, I also have to keep the plugs/vents open from day one of setting the eggs. I know you've got a lot of questions as I about gave up on hatching chicks out but thanks to some very helpful people on here and the specifics went from 1-2 outta 24-48 hatching to an 83% hatch rate. I love the incu-turner, it turns them laying down as in my area or might be the eggs themselves, if I used the upright the ones that were not fried were malposistioned and required help. takes a few frustrating hatches but you keep notes on what works best for your area

 

[Ticci89]

When you guys say upright do you mean pointy part facing down or pointy part facing up?

 

[jeepgirl13]

Pointy side should ALWAYS be down. No matter if you're storing eggs in the fridge or incubating.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I left mine on the turner, no problemo. I mean, it was even turning when the chicks were trying to break out of it's shell! (forgot to turn it off).

 

[R2elk]

Pointy side should ALWAYS be down. No matter if you're storing eggs in the fridge or incubating.

Actually this is not 100% accurate. Eggs stored in a refrigerator pointy side up will lose less moisture over time than those stored pointy side down. Unless you don't use eggs very often (me), it will not be an issue.

There is an alternate method for storing eggs pointy side up in an egg carton enclosed in a plastic bag to increase the length of storage time possible before hatching eggs.

It can be found in the egg storing section of Hatching Eggs 101 by @Sally Sunshine

 

[jeepgirl13]

Actually this is not 100% accurate. Eggs stored in a refrigerator pointy side up will lose less moisture over time than those stored pointy side down. Unless you don't use eggs very often (me), it will not be an issue.

There is an alternate method for storing eggs pointy side up in an egg carton enclosed in a plastic bag to increase the length of storage time possible before hatching eggs.

It can be found in the egg storing section of Hatching Eggs 101 by @Sally Sunshine

How interesting!! I never knew this. I will have to check this out. Usually once my eggs go in the fridge, they're there for eating, not hatching. Those pstay on the counter till they're ready