help...first time sooo confused

[candyinTX]

So first off i'm so glad this site is here or I wouldn't have even gotten started. Chicken batam old english. Little giant still air manual turning.. Doing my first batch. today is day 1. Placed in the incubator and temp has returned to Normal but so far have had two incidents! After placing the eggs the temp did not return to normal so I upped it a bit....only to realize the probe had slippedunder the wire and was giving bad readings. Temp was actually too hot now..101.1 so "correct" this my boyfriend quickly lifted the lid about an inch or two!!!! I know ur not supposed to disturb in the first 24hrs.. needless to say the temp plummeted to 98.9 before coming back up to 102 then regulated out. Seems calm now but can anyone tell me feom experience if such an incident could destroy the whole bunch. 32 eggs.

 

[azelgin]

They should be fine. Your temperature reading is not really going to be the actual egg temperature. The eggs will take at least a day to come up to your set temperature. Even so, the temperatures you are dealing with are no threat to the hatchability of the eggs.

 

[candyinTX]

Thank u so much. It is for my daughters school project sg e has decided to raise chickens im sooo out of my comfort zone lol

 

[candyinTX]

Is there a proper way to turn the eggs. I see some say there is a right and wrong way

 

[midget_farms]

There are suggestions - but honestly - the momma hen doesn't read the instructions & can't tell 1 egg from another - so there is no "wrong" way to turn them.

Ideally you want to turn them over 3 x per day - some people put an x on one side & a O on the other - that way they know all the eggs are turned each time - (if you see an X in a sea of O's you know you missed one).

but honestly if you just reach in & roll them around several times per day that will work.

The reason you move the eggs is so the yolk doens't stick to one spot inside the egg - that causes the eggs to develop really far & then die - not cool - so you want to turn them - but how they are turned is up to you.

 

[candyinTX]

I have a littke giant 9200 the instructions said not to bother the incubator for the first 24 hours that Also means no turning day 1 is this correct?

 

[azelgin]

I have a littke giant 9200 the instructions said not to bother the incubator for the first 24 hours that Also means no turning day 1 is this correct?

The reason to not open the incubator for the first 24 hours is for the temperature to stabilize. Not turning them for the first day won't matter. They won't be developed enough by then for it to matter.

 

[candyinTX]

The farm we got the eggs from told us to turn them twice a day. Im seeing most people do 3 but i dont want to handle them too much especially since the kids r doing it. Is two times enough?

 

[candyinTX]

And one more thing.so got these straight from a local farm. Several of the eggs are quite dirty I dont know if its mud or poop. We are on day 4 I had no knowledge before...learning so much thanks to u guys. What should I do they seem to be forming well. But I dont want them to be ill and die. I talked to the farmer ...very small far with only 4 or 5 small pens with about 5 chickens in each. He says none of them are ill. Im really mad he knew we knew nothing and handed the eggs in the tray right to the kids!

 

[azelgin]

Ideally, you don't try to incubate dirty eggs. The eggs are laid by the hen, with a semi protective protein coating, the "bloom", but that's not always enough to protect them from bacteria getting in to the developing embryo, when the eggs are too dirty. It's best not to clean them now. Just continue on.
Turning three times a day, is the recommended practice. One reason, is its an odd number of turns, so the egg doesn't always spend every night (the longest resting period) with either the "x", or, "o", always being faced the same way.