help questions about lockdown

[waw]

when you incubate using a incubator you go into lock down where you don't turn them
why
because when a hen sits she still turns them she does not have a off button or a stop turning mechanism
please explain what you think even if you are not sure

 

[Ridgerunner]

Why do you stop turning them? I think a big part is that you just don't need to anymore. If you are in lockdown, you take a chance of causing a problem if you open the incubator. Why take that chance to turn the eggs if you don't have a need?

There are a few different things accomplished by turning them. One, if the egg yolk or developing chick gets over to the inside of the egg shell, it can get stuck. Either it loses moisture through the porous egg shell and dies, or it is stuck and cannot position itself to hatch. By the time you get to lockdown, the chick is so big it is going to touch, but you raise humidity and the chick has undergone some changes so that it touching the inside of the eggshell is not a big problem.

When the chick is forming body parts, if the egg is not turned, the chick can be deformed. One example, you can get both eyes on the same side of its head. Once the body parts are formed, this is less important.

There have been different posts on here about it, but I'm not convinced the hen is as diligent on turning the eggs once she hears peeping inside the eggs. From what I have seen the eggs do get rearranged, but maybe the degree of turning decreases. You said to post if you are not sure, but maybe the chicks peeping is an "off" switch?

Someone that worked in the hatching industry posted on here that there are certain hormonal changes that occur inside the egg during hatch and that these work better if the egg is not turned. I'm not totally sure I believe that not turning them affects the hormones, but it was posted.

It has also been posted that turning the egg interferes with the chick positioning itself for internal pip and the rest of hatching. I'm not absolutely convinced of that either, but maybe???

 

[Griffin Nest]

It's a lie. The hen actually doesn't stop turning the eggs. The reason for lockdown is just for safety. You don't NEED to do it, but it's been proven to raise hatch rates in artificial incubation.