Random question on egg turning/stopping

[arlee453]

Ok, here's a random question..... we stop turning the eggs at day 18 or so to help the chick orient and turn in the egg for hatching. That I get. BUT.... Mamma hen would just keep on adjusting the eggs right??

I understand that if you are using an auto turner that you'd need to lay the eggs on their sides and remove the turner before hatching, but if you are manually turning and they are already on their sides, why do we stop turning when the hen would keep on adjusting and turning them? Would it really hurt the hatch rate to keep on turning??

I always just wonder about these things when it works one way in the natural world, and another in the artifical incubation world...

Any ideas??

 

[speckledhen]

Do we know that the hen keeps turning them? That would be the logical thing to ask. A good question it is, too, since we are trying to mimic natural incubation. We'd have to see if someone here has seen their broody hen actually turning the eggs right before the hatch.

 

[Katy]

Maybe it's the thought that it seems like hens stick pretty tight to the nest the last couple of days. It's been a long time since I've let a chicken set, but I know my duck hens seem to not get up at all the last couple of days.....just set there quietly.

 

[arlee453]

Hmmm... didn't think about that - maybe mamma hen DOES stop turning the eggs, or at least doesn't adjust them around as much...

Anyone?

 

[Ole Mule]

I have ten BR hens and one rooster for brown eggs personal consumption and hatch all my eggs under game hens when I need replacements I also eat all excess birds. I keep two game roosters and four game hens strictly for hatching eggs. The hens show less activity when close to hatching and just sit quietly, after a couple of days they abandon all unhatched eggs. I put eight BR eggs under a game hen and if hatching game chickens I let her set 12 . My game birds are spangled butchers and are the real deal but no I do not fight them.

 

[skeeter9]

My broodies have pretty much stopped moving around and/or adjusting their eggs in the last few days. They just sit there in the "broody trance" and wait for the chicks to hatch.