Twelve Hour Egg Rotation Workable?

[markt1]

Bought a Hova-Bator Goose Egg Turner (model 1614). Unlike the company's incubator which works well, this thing is a piece of junk. Unless someone knows of another product which will fit inside and function in this company's incubator, I'm now resigned to manually turning the eggs. Trouble is, my work schedule limits the manual rotation to roughly once every twelve hours. While not optimal, will turning them once every 12 hours work or not? Much thanks for any advice...

 

[PoultryGirly]

I turn my duck eggs once at 8 am, once at 6 pm, and once at 10 pm. It is advised to turn the eggs an odd number of times daily. I'm not sure if the 12 hour schedule will work because that means that for 12 hours the chick will be on one side of the egg and have the possibility of getting stuck to that side of the egg.

 

[markt1]

I leave the house at 6AM, get home at 5PM, and go to bed at 8:30PM. That's the best I can do manually. Will the eggs be OK with these three times?

 

[PoultryGirly]

Yes! That seems almost perfect! Good luck

 

[roboboy]

I turn my eggs on a 12 hour schedule. Works fine for me.

 

[btwhitaker]

Generally you don't want to turn your eggs an even number of times a day because they end up resting on the same side every night (the longest amount of time they go unturned). An odd number works better. I normally turn three times a day if I'm doing it manually, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once before bed. Best.

 

[roboboy]

All in all do whatever you feel the most comfortable with and works best in your schedule.

I'm the anomaly on this site anyways. I've only ever turned my eggs on the 12hr rotation and I never go into "lockdown" but having hatched out 50+ goslings last season and the previous 4. Maybe I'm lucky or maybe I've got an excellent incubator, but either way I'm not about to change now.

Good luck with your eggs.

 

[markt1]

Much thanks for all of the excellent advice!

Will continue with my 6AM/5PM/8:30PM rotation.