how often do I turn the eggs

[oopie]

I've heard some say 2 times a day and others say 3 times a day. What do y'all say?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

There's no absolute answer. A hen will turn them many times a day but since she doesn't have Xs and Os on them she doesn't know if they all get turned daily or if they turned 10 degrees or 180 degrees.
Twice is nice, thrice is better.

 

[otis7]

Alrhought not a chicken, here is a video of my pigeon Lewis caring for her eggs. She is completely blind after being hit by a car and suffering severe head damage. Despite her blindness she is a wonderful mother, but her lack of vision made things, well, let's say a little clutsy. Both eggs hatched out beautiful healthy babies who are now beautiful healthy adults.

 

[FVRM]

My incubator turns them every hour. I really hope i dont get scrambled eggs instead of chicks. Is that much turning safe? It will automatically stop turning them 2 days before hatch.

 

[oopie]

Not sure I've been hand turning mine 3 times a day about 8 hours in between

 

[Alaskan]

I think that two times a day is the bare minimum.

My last batch I tried to turn five times a day, making sure that a different side was up all night.


And no, turning every hour will not scramble them.

 

[KV Silkies]

hi, everything i've read says minimum of 3 times a day, so that it's an odd number and the egg won't be on the same side every night. Manually turning 3x day, 5x day is good too.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The reason for turning is that the yolk and embryo tend to float upwards. Turning the egg brings it back to the bottom and it takes time to float upwards again. If it sits too long in one position it tends to stick on one side of the egg.