Thank you @2ndTink for this ArticleIt's Valentine's day and the eggies are settled into their hatching quarters.
Read the full article on chick development here!
Day 18
"Lockdown" day, when we stop turning the eggs and boost humidity. The chick starts to absorb the vitellus. There is a reduction in the amount of amniotic fluid.
So, there's some debate on what day is Day 1, just to keep things confusing. Some people call the day the eggs are set, Day 1, some people say that is Day 0 and the next day is Day 1. Another place I read that if you set the eggs in the morning, it's day 1, if you set them at night, the following day is Day 1. So...
Yes I think I have to agree. 24 hours later would make day 1 correct?So, there's some debate on what day is Day 1, just to keep things confusing. Some people call the day the eggs are set, Day 1, some people say that is Day 0 and the next day is Day 1. Another place I read that if you set the eggs in the morning, it's day 1, if you set them at night, the following day is Day 1. So...
I'm using the HatchKeeper app plus my excel spreadsheet, HatchKeeper calls Day 1 the day after you set the eggs. I kinda like setting the eggs in the morning and calling it Day 1 thing
This looks like exactly what I use. I cut a few of them to fit both incubators in case I get going with staggered hatching again, but last year it worked great just throwing them in the washing machine and drier to reuse again.
I don't know either as it seems I'm never right lol. I count the set day as Day 1 if I set in the morning. If not, then the day I set doesn't count.So, there's some debate on what day is Day 1, just to keep things confusing. Some people call the day the eggs are set, Day 1, some people say that is Day 0 and the next day is Day 1. Another place I read that if you set the eggs in the morning, it's day 1, if you set them at night, the following day is Day 1. So...
I'm using the HatchKeeper app plus my excel spreadsheet, HatchKeeper calls Day 1 the day after you set the eggs. I kinda like setting the eggs in the morning and calling it Day 1 thing
I count the day I set as day 1 being the first 24 hours. At hour 25, it becomes day 2, and so on.
I think that's a solid way to think of it.
The art of chickenry! Because on top of figuring out what day is Day 1, then the incubator's quirks and differences, plus genetics of the eggies, yikes, so many variables!The way I see it is that development does not start the second you put the eggs in the incubator, it takes a minimum amount of time for heat to penetrate the egg fully and trigger development in the first place. So counting set day as day 1 does not make sense to me, personally. 21 days is 3 weeks. If you open up a calendar and count 3 weeks from the first of the month, you land on the 22nd, not the 21st, because the 22nd is 21 days after the first of the month. The day you started on is not included in the count, in other words.
But, in the long run, it actually... doesn't really matter all that much! Lock down does not have to strictly happen on day 18 regardless of how you count it. After all, you can find stories of people who forgot to lock down their eggs and had them hatch just fine on day 21, in running turners without humidity turned up or anything. And on the flip side, turning the eggs is only really crucial in the first 2 weeks or so, if I remember correctly, so technically you could lock down as early as day 15 and not have any issues. Basically, as long as you've got the temperature right in your incubator, pretty much everything else in incubating chicken eggs has a lot more wiggle room than people think.
So I guess long story short, count however you feel is right. If it has worked fine for you, then obviously there's nothing wrong with how you're doing it.
