No turning 1st through 7th day?

[Shellebelle920]

I will be receiving my 1st set of shipped hatching eggs. I have never had chickens let alone hatched their eggs before. I would really like to give these hatching eggs the best chance possible. I will be receiving the eggs from three different breeders across the country. I live in PA. I will be receiving them from AR, FL and OK. Anyway, I was reading that to give shipped eggs the best possible chance I should leave them sitting out formaround 24 hours with pointy end down in an egg carton. But I should also not turn them for the 1st 4 to 7 days? That worries me a bit as everything I have read says they need to be turned three times a day. Have you had success not turning shipped eggs for the first few days? I know that it is supposed to allow a detached air cell time to reattach, however what if the air cell is not detached? I don’t believe I will be well versed enough in candling to detect a detached air cell. Also, 6 of the eggs are coming from a French Black Copper Marans. What would you do?

 

[chickens really]

@WVduckchick

 

[casportpony]

I'm no expert, but the first time I incubated shipped eggs I let them rest for 48 hours, then placed them under a hen, and four of six hatched.

@WVduckchick and @Pyxis are both very good at answering hatching questions. Hopefully they will be here soon.

 

[WVduckchick]

Definitely candle them when they arrive. Some handle shipping better than others. And yes, you will get many options and opinions.
I’ve only let the worst damaged air cells sit for 24 hours before starting incubation, then another 24 hours of not turning. But mine have mostly been minimal shipping damage, or drastic damage.
Wonky air cells can be ok and can hatch just fine. Totally loose and floating air cells can be a challenge. So see what you get before you decide how to handle.

@PaulX found some wonderful studies on turning days, maybe he can share those links.

 

[Pyxis]

I usually let mine sit for 24 hours, then put them in and do turning as normal. It's worked for me so far

 

[Shellebelle920]

Thanks everyone. I think I’ll let them sit for 24 hours and then just incubate them as normal, so begin the turning on day 1. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I will also try to figure out if I have any loose air cells and maybe let them sit a bit longer?!

 

[PaulX]

If you turn the eggs until day 12, then you can stop turning.

http://dev.biologists.org/content/develop/5/3/293.full.pdf
Identifies that the most critical period of chick egg turning is from 4th to 7th day.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.858.1743&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Finds that turning chick eggs beyond the 8th day doesn't improve hatchability.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2cff/e9d9281e036fd01344cfdcfff6e0014d8729.pdf
Even goes so far to saying that turning chick eggs beyond 12 days actually hampers hatchability rather then improve it.

WVduckchick told me on another thread that when something called the CAM network is fully developed, then you can stop turning. I did some further research and found that for chick eggs, the CAM is fully developed by day 12, in line with the three papers above.

I quoted myself from another thread.

Now, some practical info: You'll recognize a detached air cell when you candle. It's very obvious, it will be floating as you rotate and tilt the eggs around.
Not turning on the first day is probably ok. Second day is also potentially ok (not sure), but 3rd to 7th day of not turning is out of the question.

The air cell may or may not reattach after sitting, but even not reattaching the egg can still hatch. What I did with mine was I let them sit for 12 hours, then incubated without turning for 36 hrs, and also stopped turning my eggs after the CAM network was developed (day 16 for duck eggs). The hatch rate was half of the air-cell-intact eggs, actually half of them died during the first 10 days. 1/3 died within first 4 days and it turned out upon inspection that the yolks were scrambled... nothing could have been done to save those ones.

 

[Shellebelle920]

I quoted myself from another thread.

Now, some practical info: You'll recognize a detached air cell when you candle. It's very obvious, it will be floating as you rotate and tilt the eggs around.
Not turning on the first day is probably ok. Second day is also potentially ok (not sure), but 3rd to 7th day of not turning is out of the question.

The air cell may or may not reattach after sitting, but even not reattaching the egg can still hatch. What I did with mine was I let them sit for 12 hours, then incubated without turning for 36 hrs, and also stopped turning my eggs after the CAM network was developed (day 16 for duck eggs). The hatch rate was half of the air-cell-intact eggs, actually half of them died during the first 10 days. 1/3 died within first 4 days and it turned out upon inspection that the yolks were scrambled... nothing could have been done to save those ones.

Wow! Thank you. Those articles really break it down. I will definitely
Be turning the eggs after reading this study. I guess the question now is, should I stop turning them after day 12?

 

[b2c2chicks]

I’ve been troubleshooting shipped eggs for the past 3 months. My best hatch happened 2 nights ago. With the first 8 or 9 batches, I let eggs rest 12 hours. With this last one, we did 24 hours.

The first I allowed to incubate unturned for 5 days (2 hatched out of 12).

The others, we didn’t turn for the first 2 and 3 days. Hatches varied between 30% and 50%. We thought it’s possibly due to eggs being dirty and carrying a bacteria that inhibits yolk absorption. We also stopped turning eggs on day 16. That seemed to improve the rate.

Next to last batch, from a different place...40% hatch rate, very clean eggs, but the ones that didn’t hatch had crossbeaks, double toes, a missing eye, an oversized flattened skull, etc. I’m not sure what happened there...maybe genetic issues or poor nutrition? Temp and humidity has been consistent from the get go so I don’t think it was that.

Last hatch, clean eggs, from another different seller, got a 100% hatch! 12 out of 12. The only thing we did differently: we let the eggs sit 24 hours instead of 12. And didn’t turn for 1 day....instead of 2,3,4, or 5. We still did all of our normal variables: stop turning on day 16, temp 99.6, humidity between 30-40%, lockdown on day 18 @ 65% humidity, hatched upright in paper cartons with the bottom cut out.

We aren’t sure what exactly happened, but it’s like the less we pay attention to it, the better it seems to do!

 

[Shellebelle920]

I’ve been troubleshooting shipped eggs for the past 3 months. My best hatch happened 2 nights ago. With the first 8 or 9 batches, I let eggs rest 12 hours. With this last one, we did 24 hours.

The first I allowed to incubate unturned for 5 days (2 hatched out of 12).

The others, we didn’t turn for the first 2 and 3 days. Hatches varied between 30% and 50%. We thought it’s possibly due to eggs being dirty and carrying a bacteria that inhibits yolk absorption. We also stopped turning eggs on day 16. That seemed to improve the rate.

Next to last batch, from a different place...40% hatch rate, very clean eggs, but the ones that didn’t hatch had crossbeaks, double toes, a missing eye, an oversized flattened skull, etc. I’m not sure what happened there...maybe genetic issues or poor nutrition? Temp and humidity has been consistent from the get go so I don’t think it was that.

Last hatch, clean eggs, from another different seller, got a 100% hatch! 12 out of 12. The only thing we did differently: we let the eggs sit 24 hours instead of 12. And didn’t turn for 1 day....instead of 2,3,4, or 5. We still did all of our normal variables: stop turning on day 16, temp 99.6, humidity between 30-40%, lockdown on day 18 @ 65% humidity, hatched upright in paper cartons with the bottom cut out.

We aren’t sure what exactly happened, but it’s like the less we pay attention to it, the better it seems to do!

That is so incredibly helpful to share your experience. It answered pretty much all the questions that I had! I was already planning to do 45% humidity days 1-18 and 65% during lockdown. But I think I’ll do exactly what you did and see what happens. I’ll plan on letting them sit for 24 hours and then start turning day 2 to 16. The. I’ll leave them. Thank you! Thank you! I’ll be sure to post once I get these little babies and see if I have as good of a hatch as you did!