Please help! Advice on turning eggs?

[ChelseaC]

Hi everyone,
I am on day 13 of incubating some silkie eggs, its my first attempt and the chicks are growing right on schedule...my problem is with the turning of the eggs! I was under the impression that I was meant to be rotating them from end to end (as in pointy end up to round end up) through the day..now I understand that I should have been simply tilting them?? Will the chicks still position themselves at the air cell or have i ruined the hatch?
Thanks!

 

[ChelseaC]

Is there anybody there?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

With them only being pointy end up for some of the time they should have developed in the correct position in the egg. But there is no way to tell for sure untill hatch. You may have some wrong end pippers. Have you been hand turning them? Did you have them in cartons in the incubator? Or were they laid on their sides?

 

[ChelseaC]

My incubator is a smaller model and has spaces for the eggs to sit, in the beginning they were laying on their side and in the last week I've changed their position had them alternating ends up! They seem to be developing well but i cant tell where the chicks are positioned..will continue on and hope for the best. When you say wrong end pippers, can the chicks survive if this happens?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Yes some can survive from pipping at the wrong end of the egg. A malpositioned chick will pip at the pointy end rather than the fat end of the egg. If this happens letting the chick take its time is key. A malpositioned chick misses out the internal part of pipping so does the external one straight away. You need to allow time for yolk and blood vessel absorption before even thinking about intervening with the chick.

Have a read of the article here ~ https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching Has a sectîon on malpositioned chicks at what action to take if this does occur with any of your eggs. Good luck with your hatch