I messed up my incubation:Help

[farmin'chick]

If it helps, some folks have said they've had early, unexpected hatches with the eggs still in the turner...so even if you miss getting some of batch "a" out into the hatcher, they'll still hatch when it's their time!

 

[onthespot]

I have done that before. I have taken everything out and laid it to hatch at a day before the earliest one was due and had an okay hatch. I will never know if it hurt or didn't hurt, it just seemed like my best option on that day. Good luck whatever you do. The ones that are going to hatch, will hatch, whether you leave them in the turner or lay them all down now. That is my opinion.

 

[DANNY]

I would just take them all out of the turner and continue to turn them all until the first group hatches and make sure to spray them with warm water each time you turn them and everything will work out fine.

 

[Akane]

You are better off raising humidity and not turning all of them than continuing to open the bator. I've had to stop turning some a couple days early and nothing bad comes of it. Hatch rates have been just as high. I also had a surprise chick hatch a few days ago. My broody got killed and I put all her eggs in the bator. Some were added later by other hens. Since majority were due to hatch the next day I kept humidity high and never turned any. 1 extra late egg was probably only a week along. Well 3 eggs hatched after 2 days, then 2 more 4 days later, then 1 more a couple days later, and now I've got this 1 egg that hasn't been turned for more than a week. I lowered humidity and turned it for 2 days then forgot all about it figuring it lost or deformed anyway. Suddenly a few days later I hear odd peeps. I check the bator to find a mostly hatched chick with part of the egg dried to it's side. I pulled the egg off and now I have a perfectly healthy chick from an egg that was hardly ever turned.

I don't suggest doing that on purpose because I have had lower hatch rates when I didn't turn eggs but more so early on than later. If you have to leave them a few extra days without being turned and slightly higher humidity it's not usually a problem in my experience.

 

[vkp23]

Next time I would try what I do. I marked my eggs on both sides since I don't have a turner and hand turn. I marked an X on one side of all eggs and then on the other side I maked the letter that the type of bird began with. Like "D" for duck "T" for turken and so on. I also have a small dry erase board That I drew lines on with perminant marker. (You can take it off at a later date with nail polish remover.) One box I wrote in perminant marker "Slept on side..." and would mark an "X" or "letter side" with dry erase marker, and would mark what side the eggs "slept" on when I turned them the last time for the night so I would know to let them sleep on the other side the next night. In the other boxes I wrote in dry erase marker I wrote "Duck Day" and in the other box I wrote "Turken day" and every day I would write the day number they were on so I would know who went on lockdown when. Example: Under "Duck Day" I would write say 13 and "Turken Day" I would write say 11. And I would change the day every day after the first turn. I hung the board near the 'bator.

 

[DANNY]

As far as that goes just mark the date on the eggs.

 

[vkp23]

Quote:
I'm a little OCD so....

 

[Germaine_11.20]

How long before the first batch should hatch? If it is only a few days then put them all on lock down and leave them alone. If it bothers you not to turn them, then do a quick turn once or twice a day and spray them with warm water. But do it quick. The humidity at this point is crucial.
And I just don't think that turning them all will hurt the ones about to hatch. I know they say that we should not turn them the last three days, but anyone who has hatched out a large batch of chicks can tell you that the unhatched eggs get rolled and kicked and tumbled around and still hatch.
In fact the more the other chicks peep and kick I think the hatch is better. All those hatching chicks keep the humidity levels high for the rest of them.

 

[DANNY]

Turning them won't hurt them i have hatched hundreds of birds still in the turners when they hatched. On the other hand not turning the others can cause many problems. As far as humidity as long as you spray those eggs to restore humidity lost that is not a problem. Personally i think this "lockdown" is very over rated because i open my incubator whenever i feel i need to and i hatched 50 out of 57 fertile eggs this week. I just make sure to spray them if i need to.

 

[jvls1942]

first of all, relax..

you are not in a bind at all..

just treat the first batch as you normally would..

the second batch is so close behind, that turning them or not turning them will make little difference..

those turners are so slow, that the egg hardly moves.. I have let the turner just keep running with no bad effects..

just get your humidity up to at least 60% and open the bator as few times as you can..

If you have to open the bator, spray a mist on the eggs before you put the lid back on to quickly restore humidity..

If you have to open the bator, check the eggs first.. If there are zips, do not open it.. if there are no pips or just small pips, it is OK..