turning eggs

[Therrm]

I built an incubator out of an old cooler and have questions about turning eggs. Can i just prop up one side of the incubator and alternate sides a couple times a day? That seems like all the auto turners do. Or is it ok to to open it to turn them by hand. Is the heat loss of opening it up that big of a deal or not? I guess im asking which would be better to do?

 

[Toddrick]

Geesh, I can't believe I didn't think of that! But you should still open it up and "candle" the eggs every few days to check for quitters, and to witness the magic.

Heat loss is not a big deal at all (unless maybe you are incubating somewhere very cold). The thermostat will just kick on and heat it right back up. Even mother birds have to get off eggs every now and then, and slight temperature changes don't cause problems.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I built an incubator out of an old cooler and have questions about turning eggs. Can i just prop up one side of the incubator and alternate sides a couple times a day? That seems like all the auto turners do. Or is it ok to to open it to turn them by hand. Is the heat loss of opening it up that big of a deal or not? I guess im asking which would be better to do?

It's ok to turn them by hand. The eggs themselves will not loose heat as fast as the bator will, and unless you are taking a lot of time to turn and leaving the incubator open for long periods it will not harm them. Unless your bator is hard to maintain temps, I would say hand turn because they do get a better turn in my opinion.

You can tilt the bator too. Or incubate them upright in cut down cartons and tilt the cartons from side to side. They are all possibilities.