How to position eggs

[belleannah]

I've never incubated eggs before but am planning on ordering some Silkie eggs soon. So I've got a few questions before I do this.

I'm going to turn the eggs myself. What position should the eggs be in the incubator, upright or on their side?

When you turn the eggs, do you just turn them to the opposite direction, or should you only turn half way or something?

Now I read that the chicken incubation period is 21 days. So day 1 is when you put the eggs in and then on day 18 you change the humidity and quit turning the eggs, right?

 

[MandyH]

That's correct. You can put your eggs in a carton big end up and just tilt the carton from side to side to rotate. That way you don't have the bator open for long periods of time letting heat and humidity escape. There are LOTS of threads on incubating and turning eggs on here. Go to the top of the page and hit the search option and type in whatever it is you want to know.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I hand turn my hatching eggs but I lay them on their side like they would be under a hen...I mark them with an X on one side and an O on the other and turn them 3 times a day.....Big side towards the back of the incubator and small end towards the front......