when / how lockdown?

[t/m]

I have 5 eggs in a Brinsea Mini Advance incubator. I set them Saturday, March 24 @ 3:30 pm. I'm using the automatic turner and the 'daily cool down' feature. I know the machine will stop turning etc during lockdown, but when exactly is that? I want to remove the turner, place cut out paper towels and fill the water reservoir. I know I'm not supposed to open during lockdown so when do I do this stuff? Thanks.

 

[smchickfarm]

Lockdown is the last 3 days of the hatch. So days 19-21 are lockdown days. So you would stop turning the eggs on day 19 and put your paper towels in or whatever you are gonna use.

Hope that helps.

 

[t/m]

It does help! Thank you. Just want to get this right, don't want to mess up after waiting this long!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Lockdown is not something that has to be spot on. Eggs can pip very early or very late due to different things. The main thing is average incubating temperature, but some other things can affect when they pip and hatch. I had eggs pipping when I went into lockdown until I adjusted the temperature on my incubator. You don't always shrink-wrap chicks when you open the incubator after they pip, but it can and does happen. It's best to go into lockdown and raise the humidity before they pip. That's your real goal.

Some people have trouble counting days. There is even a hatching calendar floating around this site that was wrong the last time I looked at it. It seems like Day 1 should be the day you start the eggs, but that is not correct. An egg does not have 24 hours worth of development two seconds or two hours after it goes into the incubator. It takes 24 hours for the egg to have a day's worth of development. The day after you put them in the incubator is Day 1. That just doesn't sound right, but it is.

Lockdown should be after 18 days of development. Since you set then on Saturday March 24, lockdown should be Wednesday, April 11. Since it is your first time, I'd shoot for around 3:30 p.m., since that is the time of day you set them. When you get some history of how your incubator works, you may want to adjust that some on future hatches.

A good way to know when the eggs should hatch is that the day of the week you set them is the day of the week they should hatch, in your case, Saturday. But don't be surprised if you are a couple of days early or late. Many of us are, especially the first or second time.

 

[Gallus Sapien]

Lockdown is not something that has to be spot on. Eggs can pip very early or very late due to different things. The main thing is average incubating temperature, but some other things can affect when they pip and hatch. I had eggs pipping when I went into lockdown until I adjusted the temperature on my incubator. You don't always shrink-wrap chicks when you open the incubator after they pip, but it can and does happen. It's best to go into lockdown and raise the humidity before they pip. That's your real goal.
Some people have trouble counting days. There is even a hatching calendar floating around this site that was wrong the last time I looked at it. It seems like Day 1 should be the day you start the eggs, but that is not correct. An egg does not have 24 hours worth of development two seconds or two hours after it goes into the incubator. It takes 24 hours for the egg to have a day's worth of development. The day after you put them in the incubator is Day 1. That just doesn't sound right, but it is.
Lockdown should be after 18 days of development. Since you set then on Saturday March 24, lockdown should be Wednesday, April 11. Since it is your first time, I'd shoot for around 3:30 p.m., since that is the time of day you set them. When you get some history of how your incubator works, you may want to adjust that some on future hatches.
A good way to know when the eggs should hatch is that the day of the week you set them is the day of the week they should hatch, in your case, Saturday. But don't be surprised if you are a couple of days early or late. Many of us are, especially the first or second time.

This is good info... How does the chicks get shrik-wrapped? What happens to them? If that happens what do you do?

 

[t/m]

THANK YOU RidgeRunner,
See, so much I don't know!! Your info and explanation is very helpful

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is good info... How does the chicks get shrik-wrapped?  What happens to them?  If that happens what do you do?

Again, it does not happen each and every time, but if the humidity is too low when the chick has pipped, the membrane can dry out enough to shrink around the chick, restraining it so it can't move to zip. It can die. I always have trouble telling when to help, and sometimes the chick dies a few days later even if you do help. It may be that the chick just was just not strong enough to get out on its own. It's not always an easy call.

This is a very long thread with pictures and a good discussion about it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=491421

 

[Gallus Sapien]

THANK-YOU for taking the time to repy