When do you candle the chicken eggs and when to toss bad ones?

[annmarie33]

I'm getting close to lockdown. I have a question about days though. I put the eggs in the incubator around noon on the 3rd and I'm not sure if I can count that as day 0 or day 1. Today at noon I was going to start lockdown but I am wondering if I actually need to wait until the following day?

 

[junebuggena]

The day after you set is day 1.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm getting close to lockdown. I have a question about days though. I put the eggs in the incubator around noon on the 3rd and I'm not sure if I can count that as day 0 or day 1. Today at noon I was going to start lockdown but I am wondering if I actually need to wait until the following day?

Day 1 starts 24 hours after set. So if you set Thursday, September 3rd at noon, day one starts Friday September 4th at noon. Lockdown for chicken eggs would typically be day 18. Day 18 for you would start Monday September 21st at noon (you can lockdown at anypoint) and you should expect to see hatchers by Thursday the 24th if temps were right. You start the next day because chicken eggs need 21 days of incubation, they don't get one day of incubation until they've been set for 24 hours. Good luck on your hatch!

 

[annmarie33]

Ok thank you! I just read for the first time that bantam eggs need to start lockdown on day 16. And if you have both regular and bantam to go ahead and still do day 16. If this is true I am a day late. I went ahead and started lockdown. I'm having trouble with my temp though since taking the egg turner out and it's taking forever to get back up. So half of today probably won't count as much with all the fluctuation

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Ok thank you! I just read for the first time that bantam eggs need to start lockdown on day 16. And if you have both regular and bantam to go ahead and still do day 16. If this is true I am a day late. I went ahead and started lockdown. I'm having trouble with my temp though since taking the egg turner out and it's taking forever to get back up. So half of today probably won't count as much with all the fluctuation

Bantams do not need to be locked down any earlier than standards. Yes, it is common for bantams to hatch a day or two earlier, (like day 19/20) but not before day 18 IF temps had been stable at the right point for the average of the incubation. (Many people see no earlier hatches than their standards.) Even with my Japanese Bantams they didn't hatch before day 19 and the whole hatch started on that day, not just them, due to warmer average temps over incubation. (That doesn't mean it can't happen, just that it's not the norm if normal incubation proceedure is followed.)

You will have to adjust temps when you take out the turners, biggest reason being because the turners themselves throw off a lot of heat from the motor. If you don't have an incubator with the thermostat then you will need to manually adjust. Some people actually adjust down a temp at hatch time a degree.

 

[annmarie33]

http://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/incubator-lockdown.html

This is where I read the 16 day bantam idea

 

[annmarie33]

Everything has been going great temperature wise until yesterday. The humidity was on 45 when I left in the morning and then around 6pm it was 19!! This hasn't happened before and I freaked out and started pouring water. Then I unplugged it and plugged it right back in a the humidity shot up to 60. So I think it just froze or did something weird- now it's stable. But with the turner out I can't really seem to get it above 97-98 down where the eggs are located now. They are much lower without the turner. I have raised my set temp .2 but am hesitant to go any further since it seems this incubator can all of a sudden rise when going slow to get there.
What do you think I should do if by tonight the temp down by the eggs isn't above 99.5? This is stressful!!!
I've almost just said the heck with it and put them under my broody hen. She has 2 right now and I didn't want to give her all just incase she kills them.
The only thing that makes me feel better is that I candles her eggs and they look just like the ones in the incubator- sane air cell size and everything.
I really appreciate you helping me!!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Everything has been going great temperature wise until yesterday. The humidity was on 45 when I left in the morning and then around 6pm it was 19!! This hasn't happened before and I freaked out and started pouring water. Then I unplugged it and plugged it right back in a the humidity shot up to 60. So I think it just froze or did something weird- now it's stable. But with the turner out I can't really seem to get it above 97-98 down where the eggs are located now. They are much lower without the turner. I have raised my set temp .2 but am hesitant to go any further since it seems this incubator can all of a sudden rise when going slow to get there.
What do you think I should do if by tonight the temp down by the eggs isn't above 99.5? This is stressful!!!
I've almost just said the heck with it and put them under my broody hen. She has 2 right now and I didn't want to give her all just incase she kills them.
The only thing that makes me feel better is that I candles her eggs and they look just like the ones in the incubator- sane air cell size and everything.
I really appreciate you helping me!!

The 16 day has been touted by others as the way to lockdown for banties, however, I think you'll find the majority of chicken hatchers agree that bantams should not be treated any different in incubation than standards unless you see an early pip and then it would be a sign to start lockdown.But generally I have rarely ever seen anyone have a need to lockdown that early. And unless you have big air cells, the higher humidity for the extra days may not be the best thing.

First off let me say- don't freak out with humidity fluctuations. Humidity hitting 19% for a day...is not going to have that much of an effect unless your air cells are already over sized. Just like humidity spiking to 50 or 60% for a day isn't going to make much of a difference. (Actually I'd be more comfortable with 19% for a day than 60%) Humidity is most important as an overall average to allow the egg to loose the right amount of moisture during incubation and for the air cells to grow properly. Humidity fluctuations are not detrimental like heat fluctuations.

You are using still air, right? I'd rather see 100 with still air than 99.5 for hatch, but I honestly don't think 99.5 is going to compromise anything either. They are producing their own body heat at this point and they are fully developed. Hopefully it'll push up to 100ish for you. You can try to help temp by adding warm water when you up your humidity. You can also cover the vents for half an hour (if there's no pips) to help higher the temp. Just remember when you get it up to uncover them. I've used this trick to up humidity/temps when necessary and surprisingly when the temp/humidity gets where I want it and I re open the vents it doens't drop back down drastically. Jut keep an eye on the bator if you do either to make sure it doesn't go too high.

 

[annmarie33]

Omg I just saw the first pip happen!! I was messing with it trying to figure out the temp and is seems low still. So I was raising it and re checking and opening the bator and figured it was fine since technically I wasn't supposed to start lockdown until today at noon. Well I'm glad I did!! But now I'm worried me opening and letting out humidity will affect the one that just pipped. It happened 5 minutes after I opened it the first time. So I put a sponge in there and am adding water to the sponge to get humidity to 70. Do you think 70 is good?

 

[annmarie33]

Little pip from our flock so exciting!