I've hand turned for the great majority of my time incubating eggs. I usually like to turn 5 times a day, 180 degrees, eggs marked with an X and an O. It always worked well for me. I feel that laying on their sides is the most natural way of incubating eggs, so I am most comfortable with it, but I've used cartons with eggs with detached air cells with success. I then turned them the way an auto-turner such as those found in Hovabators turns eggs, also with success. Either way works, it's hard to say which is better. 3x a day some say is enough but I like 5x.