Turning eggs?

[howfunkyisurchicken]

So, I'm a little over a week into my first go with my newish bator. I was very surprised at how easy it was for me to get the temp and everything right after reading through some of these threads (its a still air LG, I traded some hatching eggs for it- beggars can't be choosers I guess). Anyway, I've been diligently turning my egglets 3x a day at 8am, 2pm and 8pm. My concern is this, I'm at work today and wasn't able to do my 2pm turning. My DH is also at work so I couldn't get him to do it either. Is this going to ruin my hatch rates? I have no automatic turner, so turning by hand is my only option. I may treat myself and get a fan and turner at some point, but the bator is new and I just had to put some eggs in it (the lady I got it from gave me some Aracauna eggs to stick in it to get me going, and I'd REALLY like at least a couple to hatch). So, did I jump the gun and mess up my eggs by not sticking to my schedule or is there still hope I can get some to hatch? Thanks in advance for any insight, I'm a nervous new bator user!!!

 

[MuscovyMad]

No i reckon you'll be fine. There are stories on here of people that put eggs in bators and forgot about them for the 21 days and still had decent hatch rates.

I was the same with my first hatch. I turned them at 7am, 3pm and 11pm but one night i went out to a party and forgot about the 11pm turn and was upset at the fact i had possibly ruined the batch. But they were fine and i hatched out 5/6 ducklings. The other 1 wasn't fertile.

For my most recent hatch i was really busy so i just turned them when i could and they hatched out fine aswell.

Good luck with your hatch.

 

[SpiritedFarm]

I agree with MuscovyMad, I think you'll be fine!

Be sure and post some pics when they arrive! Best of luck!

 

[coqauvin]

I have a minor issue with an incubator that has an auto turner. It is being used at school by one of my youngsters to hatch some chicken eggs. The eggs were set last Wed, the 9th; which means they will likely be hatching on the 30th. Monday that week is a holiday. The incubator will not be accessible from late Friday the 25th, through early morning the 29th. Soooo, do I take the turner out on Friday and have the eggs not turn for a bit over 5 days before hatch, or remove the turner early the 29th - leaving only 1 day before hatch with turning up until then?

Which is likely to have less impact on viability?

 

[MuscovyMad]

Hey coqauvin

I'd say to leave them 5 days without the turner as some chicks might hatche early in which case they won't have had much time to get into position. You would also risk messing up humidity etc if you opened the day before the hatch which could result in shrink wrapping the chicks inside the egg.

My understanding of the reason they are turned is to stop them sticking to the side in early incubation and getting ruined. And also to aid nourishing the chick by moving the embryo a bir. However by the end of the incubation period there is a substantial network of feins running all around the egg therefore it should be fine for receiving enough nutrition. And it is unlikely to stick to the side that late on in incubation and if it does it's not going to damage enough vessels for it to becme non - viable.

Hope that helps.

Good luck with your hatch.

ps you might want to start your own thread if you have other questions as it's termed hijacking to ask questions on someone elses thread which may annoy the original poster.

 

[coqauvin]

Sorry about that. I certainly did not want to hijack a thread. It just seemed that it was essentially the same topic, i.e., turning eggs.

Happy hatching!

 

[Nsampsel]

You were on topic, so I don't see it as hijacking either. Moderators will link you to a similar post if it was posted recently & tell you not to double post. You did fine.

I would remove the turner a couple days early as well. You don't want any to hatch with the turner still in. They could get hurt.