Should I stop turning at day 14 or 18?

[Maddison]

My book informs me "the eggs need not be turned after day fourteen" though I am very skeptical about this! should I stop turning at day 14 or 18???

 

[Poultrybreeder]

day 18, have a great day and God Bless!

 

[mill-j]

What are you hatching? it does make a difference.

 

[Maddison]

What are you hatching? it does make a difference.

Im hatching naked neck bantams. and actually, 3 chicks hatched today! they were pipping and in under an half hour zipped and hatched! I didn't even get to see them hatch so that sucks for me haha. so they must have been older than I thought so far all are healthy, but I'm worried about one its looking like it might have crooked feet...

 

[Ridgerunner]

To answer your question, there are two reasons to turn eggs. One is that turning helps body parts form in the right places. The other is that if the yolk or developing chick touches the inside of the egg shell it can get stuck. By day 14 all body parts have started forming in their correct place and a membrane to protect the chick from the inside of the shell has formed so no you do not need to turn chicken eggs after day 14. Turning doesn’t hurt, it’s just not necessary. If you use an automatic turner it’s convenient to stop turning them when you go into lockdown. You should do whichever you want to do, it won’t make any difference which you do.

When did you set those eggs? It sounds like they are early from your post. The 21 day thing for chicken eggs is a general guideline, a target to aim for, not necessarily a law of nature. Many different things can affect how long it takes eggs to hatch, heredity, humidity, how and how long the eggs were stored before incubation begins, and just differences in the eggs. A big one is average incubating temperature. If the average temperature is a little low the eggs can be late. If it is a little high they can be early, as much as over two full 24-hour days and still be healthy.

Whether under a broody hen or in my incubator my first chicks to hatch are often two full days early. Sometimes those hatches are pretty much on time though they even those start just a bit early. Some of these hatches are over within 24 hours of the first one hatching, some drag on well into the third day before the last one hatches. They are just not that consistent, broody hen or incubator.

If your eggs are as early as it sounds I’d question your incubation temperature, it sounds warm. Whatever brand you are using it’s not that unusual for the factory settings to be off a bit. I really don’t trust them until they’ve been calibrated, confirmed to measure temperature correctly. High incubating temperatures can cause physical deformities too, like crooked feet.

Before you incubate any more eggs I suggest you confirm yours is operating at the correct temperature.

Good luck with the rest of the hatch.

 

[Maddison]

To answer your question, there are two reasons to turn eggs. One is that turning helps body parts form in the right places. The other is that if the yolk or developing chick touches the inside of the egg shell it can get stuck. By day 14 all body parts have started forming in their correct place and a membrane to protect the chick from the inside of the shell has formed so no you do not need to turn chicken eggs after day 14. Turning doesn’t hurt, it’s just not necessary. If you use an automatic turner it’s convenient to stop turning them when you go on lockdown. You should do whichever you want to do, it won’t make any difference which you do.

When did you set those eggs? It sounds like they are early from your post. The 21 day thing for chicken eggs is a general guideline, a target to aim for, not necessarily a law of nature. Many different things can affect how long it takes eggs to hatch, heredity, humidity, how and how long the eggs were stored before incubation begins, and just differences in the eggs. A big one is average incubating temperature. If the average temperature is a little low the eggs can be late. If it is a little high they can be early, as much as over two full 24-hour days and still be healthy.

Whether under a broody hen or in my incubator my first chicks to hatch are often two full days early. Sometimes those hatches are pretty much on time though they even those start just a bit early. Some of these hatches are over within 24 hours of the first one hatching, some drag on well into the third day before the last one hatches. They are just not that consistent, broody hen or incubator.

If your eggs are as early as it sounds I’d question your incubation temperature, it sounds warm. Whatever brand you are using it’s not that unusual for the factory settings to be off a bit. I really don’t trust them until they’ve been calibrated, confirmed to measure temperature correctly. High incubating temperatures can cause physical deformities too, like crooked feet.

Before you incubate any more eggs I suggest you confirm yours is operating at the correct temperature.

Good luck with the rest of the hatch.

I've read here that chicks are generally floppy until 2 days when they have better use of there legs, the chick is looking better now and toes are straighter. the chicks are now warm and happy sleeping together huddled to there artificial mummy (feather duster. and they do actually cry without it..). I had 15 in total in my Bator 6 of which I put under a broody as my incubator was not yet in the mail and I couldn't store them, I'm unsure but I think the 6 were around 5 days older than the rest in my bator, I removed a section of the tray so the older ones wouldn't get turned which was actually 1 day ago (when pipping was first heard) which Is why I'm thinking they were older than expected, 3 out of 6 has hatched and I'm waiting for the other 3, no pips or cheeps, hoping they are okay..

the first 3 pipped and zipped with minimal effort and I've already taught them to drink from a dripper, as they downright chuck a tantrum with there regular water bowl! I've put the humidity up to %65 for lockdown and hoping that the younger aren't drastically affected, considering how quick they have hatched the younger ones shouldn't be in high humidity for more than 3 days, which by then will be their lockdown day. temp is maintaining 37.5 - 37.7 celsius and humidity at 63 - 65%. I've felt the eggs and they feel like they would after being under a broody. Incubator is currently at day 15, though I will admit it would have been day 16 but I spent a day trying to build it and trying to up humidity and temp, at day one it was dangerously low Temp at 21C and humidity 15%, the eggs went cold but I've since then fixed this and all is well, I've candeled all eggs and they are developing fine from day 2 -15. the incubator is unbranded. also worth noting the other 6 were stored for 4 days before incubation. (this took me forever to write but hopefully this can assist in any advice!)

 

[Ridgerunner]

When you start incubating eggs at different times you get what we call a staggered hatch. That can add a lot of complications. Seems like you are handling those pretty well but it is something I avoid.

Chicks do not need to eat or drink for three days or more after they hatch since they absorb the yolk. It doesn’t hurt them to eat or drink earlier but that’s why they can be shipped in the mail, they don’t have to. It sounds like those chicks are still in the incubator, once they are dried off and you are fairly sure the other early eggs won’t hatch I’d move then to the brooder. You need to do that before the others hatch anyway.

Humidity during incubation is important, too much and the chicks can be soft and mushy when they hatch, or they may not have enough air in the air cell to learn to breathe air after internal pip but before external pip so they die without hatching. Too little humidity and they can be shrink-wrapped, that membrane dries up and traps the so they cannot move to hatch. So extremes are bad. But the good news is that there is a really wide range of humidities that work. You don’t have to be precise and spot on. As long as you are in the ballpark you should do OK.

In your situation I’d carry on like you are doing. Good luck!

 

[ZipZwan]

hi, I am at day 16 of chicks hatching, and I am reading everywhere that I should stop turning at day 18, but I dont understand exactly what that mean?? Should I turn the eggs on day 18 for the last times (3-4 dayly), and then day 19-21 >> Lockdown??
Or should I keep turning until day 17, and then do not turn the eggs anymore, and enter in lockdown periode?? so day 18-21 >> lockdown.
So why not better to say stop turning the eggs at day 17, kind of confusing to be honest....
Thx for any clarification

 

[Ridgerunner]

For chicken eggs you don't absolutely have to turn them after 14 days of development. I say days of to help with counting. An egg doesn't have a day's worth of development as soon as you put it in the incubator. The temptation is to say one when you put them in but that is wrong. You say "one" 24 hours after you start the eggs. One good way to check your counting is the day of the week you put them in is the day of the week the 21 days are up. If you started them on a Tuesday the 21 days are up on a Tuesday.

Turning is important early in incubation for several different reasons but after 14 days you have gotten all of those benefits. it doesn't hurt to turn them after that, but you don't have to.

The reason lockdown is recommended to be after 18 days of incubation is because chicks don't always hatch on day 21. Whether under a broody hen or in an incubator it's not that unusual for some chicks to hatch a coupe of days early or late. You want to raise the humidity to help reduce the chance chicks will be shrink-wrapped. Once the chicks pip you can get a chick shrink-wrapped if the humidity is too low. Shrink-wrap doesn't really occur that often but it can and does happen. Why take an unnecessary chance when yo don't have to? So lockdown typically starts about 18 days into incubation to try to make sure the humidity is raised if any eggs happen to pip early. You don't have to be that precise, a few hours early won't hurt, even late won't hurt if an egg hasn't pipped.

So why stop turning and raise the humidity at the same time? Convenience, especially with an automatic turner. It's convenient to do all that at the same time. Also it simplified things for people that don't worry about the why but just want a recipe to follow. It's harder to mess up if you do both at the same time instead of having to remember which you do when.

 

[ZipZwan]

Thx you very much about all this explanation.
About the counting, I do close to what you explained, what I mean. I use to put eggs in incubator kind of end of afternoon around 3-5PM, and I do not count that day as day 1, I count it as day 0. I know that eggs should get some time for the chicks/embryo, to kind of "wake up" from "hibernation", and then start developping...
PS: Sure words used are not proper, but I am sure you get the idea, I am trying to mean ))
Then on day 3, I start turning eggs 3 times per day, manually... got no automatic turner yet... still improuving my homemade incubator step by step...
Last year, I succed in hatching around 15 chicks in an styrofoam box, and reccently I made a DIY bigger wood case incubator, able accept around 50-60 eggs...
About the humidity, I am aware that it should be increased for the lockdown period... But thx a lot for the accurate explanation
Currently I am getting between 50-55% humidity, and last month during the lockdown I managed to rise it till 70-75% ))
The current batch that I putted is very promessing, on 27 eggs, 20 eggs got chicks/embryo in them!! Of course those 20 are found after egg candling... So that is why I am still chasing knowledge for a maximum to hatch after few days...
Thx again very much for the support )))