How often do you turn?!

[Riven]

I just read a thing ( one of the stickies here ) that said eggs should be turned at least five times a day, preferably at least once an HOUR!

Does any one go by this? We've always turn twice a day, the neighbors turn twice a day, when we hatched eggs in school we turned twice a day!

I have an automatic turner, it would be easy to put some extra turns in there, but is it needed or better? What would happen if I left the turner on? It continuously turns the rack back and forth, the neighbor said we'd have dizzy chicks!

Thanks again!

 

[vkp23]

I turn 3 times a day so they "sleep" on a different side every night.

 

[Bosque]

I turned three to five times per day, but always an odd number.

 

[Akane]

3 or 5 times a day is enough. You just want it to be an odd number. If you have a turner then just leave it. It will slowly rotate the eggs back and forth all day. It moves so slowly you can hardly see it turning but it does turn them constantly. Hens turn and shift their eggs constantly and the chicks don't get dizzy.

Since we can't stand there recreating the constant small turns of the hen an auto turner or a few complete turns a day is the best substitute.

 

[Riven]

Mine turns rather quickly, you can easily see it moving!

Thanks for the suggestions, after we shut it down for the year my husband is going to put a timer on the turner so it will automatically turn how ever many times we set it for!

Thanks!

 

[NCIndiaBlue]

I turn mine 3 times a day and have had great hatches

 

[Akane]

The turner needs to turn alot because it isn't rotating them completely. It's only tilting them a small amount. It's also better for them to turn frequently not worse. Limiting it really isn't helpful unless it's moving so fast it's jarring the eggs too much. Even if you lessen how often it turns it will still jar the eggs frequently and personally I'd get a different turner. Most of the new turners you can't even see them move. They move pretty much constantly but lots of people have thought they weren't working until they came back hours later to find the eggs tipped the other way.

 

[busylizzie]

my bator turns them hourly day and night...i hope they are not dizzy

 

[HenMaster]

Quote:
I'm with you get a turner, and the only thing you have to worry about is; tempature and humidity.

the draw backs are you can only put "x" amount of eggs in a turner and you can squeeze a ton of eggs in a non-turner. (Did I say that right?)

Get the turner.

 

[Akane]

Actually since the turner tips them upright they take up less space. I can fit the same number of large eggs in my bator with a turner as without. A little space is lost to the turner motor but it's made up for by the eggs being on end instead of laid down. I suppose with bantam eggs that might not be true unless you got smaller egg cups so there were more of them on a row.