I posted a question on its own thread about the turning. I have it set at 9 every 45 min. I checked and the LF are turning 1/4 turn and the Bantams are turning about 1/2. I really want the three LF to hatch do you all think this is ok?
If I am reading this right, every 45 minutes your turner turns the eggs either 1/4 turn or a full 1/2 turn correct?
I have 2 different turners in my incubators, 1 gives a full half turn every 2 hours and the other holds the eggs pointy end down and turns from side to side to a 45 degree angle. Moving constantly so a full cycle of one side to the other takes about 2.5 hours.
A half turn every 45 minutes is a bit faster than most auto turners are set at and the big hatcheries rate of turn is at. if you can slow it down a bit I would. Though that said, I don't think there is a lot of experiments reported on rapid turn rates easily found, most use number of times turned in a day and stop when they reached the results they wanted, which was the most hatched.
[/QUOTE] The other problem is I just figured out the hatch day is Sat Feb 8th and I will be away all day Saturday and Saturday night and coming home Sunday!!! Im so dumb. My hubby will be home to check on them but if they hatch on Saturday they will be ok to stay in the incubator for 12 to 24 hours right??? [/QUOTE]
They will be fine for 12 to 24 hours without problem.
That said, one of the biggest issues with keeping newly hatched chicks in the incubator with the yet to hatch chicks is the chicks playing pool with the unhatched siblings so to speak. If you have a way to block the eggs form being rolled around, it will help your hatch rate as a chick who is moving into position for pipping can become disorientated if all of a sudden it is rolled all over the place, thus causing it to drown or turn the wrong way. There is a reason the big hatcheries stuff the hatch out trays so there is not a lot of room for the eggs to move and get fantastic hatch rates.
While it is nice to spread the eggs out in the belief we are giving the young chick room to dry off and get their legs under them; with the invention of nice smooth surfaces we can keep clean between hatches, eggs can move so much more than an egg in a nest. if you think about it, an egg under a hen in a nest, is naturally blocked from being moved by young chicks by the nesting materials, a little movement is possible, but not the roll across the room type of movement we can get with modern plastics that the eggs sit on.
Rubber shelf liner works to help curb the rolling, and spiraling a nylon cord and placing the eggs inside the spiral so the eggs can only move so much also works. People have hatched in egg cartons, the turner trays and all sorts. the other thing people will point out is that they don't do any of that and have no issues, But i would point out that they open space inside the incubator is not that large and the eggs can't move around that much to begin with.
(I told her I would take whatever she had available, as I am just beginning to add the breed to my flock) Hoping for a successful hatch as this is only our second time hatching eggs 
