when placing egg on incubator does it count as day 1 ?

[Denise661]

Or after 24 hrs its day one?

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's a pretty common question and something that is often confused. Ther's even a hatching calendar floating around this forum that has it wrong. I'll go into some detail so it may be easier to remember, but the day you put then in is zero. 24 hours later is day 1.

An egg does not have 24 hours worth of development 2 seconds or even two hours after you start the incubation. It takes 24 hours for it to have a day's worth of development. All the candling photos, lockdown, and hatch depend on days of development. One easy way to check yourself with chicken eggs is that the day of the week you start them is the day of the week they should hatch. If you set them on a Friday, they should hatch on a Friday.

The timing for an egg to hatch is not all that precise though. There are many things that determine when an egg will actually hatch. Humidity, heredity, relative size, how and how long they were stored, and who knows what else all play into it. The big one though is average incubating temperature. If your average incubating temperature is a bit high, they can be really early. My first hatch with my incubator was like that. I had a coupld of eggs pipping when they went into lockdown and I stil got a good hatch. If the average incubating temperature is a bit low, they can be a few days late.

It's not required that lockdown be all that precise either. You can be off a day and get a decent hatch. I think it is good practice to try to get it right as you reasonably can, but don't sweat the small stuff. If you lock down a day early and you get a really late hatch, it might cause a problem, but probably not much of one. Even being a bit late on an early hatch does not always lead to disaster.

Hatching is not an instantaneous process either. The egg internal pips, external pips, and eventually zips and comes out. The chick is not resting in between these steps. It is learning to breathe in air instead of its liquid environment, absorbing the yolk, drying up no longer needed blood vessels, doing something with that yukky gel/liquid it has been surrounded with so it dries fluffy instead of with matted down, and who knows what else. Some chicks do a lot of this between internal pip and external pip. These usually zip and come out pretty soon after external pip. Some do a lot between external pip and zip. These drive you crazy waiting on them. A few even do some of this after they zip and come out. Most of these still make it.

I think it is good to know what should happen so you know if you need to adjust anything. If your start of hatch is off by more than a full 24 hour day, I'd probably try adjusting the incubating temperature. But if you are within a day, you are good to go and doing great.

Good luck!

 

[Denise661]

That's a pretty common question and something that is often confused. Ther's even a hatching calendar floating around this forum that has it wrong. I'll go into some detail so it may be easier to remember, but the day you put then in is zero. 24 hours later is day 1.
An egg does not have 24 hours worth of development 2 seconds or even two hours after you start the incubation. It takes 24 hours for it to have a day's worth of development. All the candling photos, lockdown, and hatch depend on days of development. One easy way to check yourself with chicken eggs is that the day of the week you start them is the day of the week they should hatch. If you set them on a Friday, they should hatch on a Friday.
The timing for an egg to hatch is not all that precise though. There are many things that determine when an egg will actually hatch. Humidity, heredity, relative size, how and how long they were stored, and who knows what else all play into it. The big one though is average incubating temperature. If your average incubating temperature is a bit high, they can be really early. My first hatch with my incubator was like that. I had a coupld of eggs pipping when they went into lockdown and I stil got a good hatch. If the average incubating temperature is a bit low, they can be a few days late.
It's not required that lockdown be all that precise either. You can be off a day and get a decent hatch. I think it is good practice to try to get it right as you reasonably can, but don't sweat the small stuff. If you lock down a day early and you get a really late hatch, it might cause a problem, but probably not much of one. Even being a bit late on an early hatch does not always lead to disaster.
Hatching is not an instantaneous process either. The egg internal pips, external pips, and eventually zips and comes out. The chick is not resting in between these steps. It is learning to breathe in air instead of its liquid environment, absorbing the yolk, drying up no longer needed blood vessels, doing something with that yukky gel/liquid it has been surrounded with so it dries fluffy instead of with matted down, and who knows what else. Some chicks do a lot of this between internal pip and external pip. These usually zip and come out pretty soon after external pip. Some do a lot between external pip and zip. These drive you crazy waiting on them. A few even do some of this after they zip and come out. Most of these still make it.
I think it is good to know what should happen so you know if you need to adjust anything. If your start of hatch is off by more than a full 24 hour day, I'd probably try adjusting the incubating temperature. But if you are within a day, you are good to go and doing great.
Good luck!

Thanks! I was counting day one after 24 hrs and my husband was counting it from the first day I set it in the incubator.
Ha! Guess I was right all the time.

 

[sparkleeyes]

I think that this is good info for a newbie like myself. This is our very, very first incubation. I'm listening intently, watching and waiting, patiently or not so much so! I think that ours is going to be late. We have just started on this whole new adventure with now 13 hens and a roo, the hens varying in age. In any case, we're waiting on the one egg, and I'm wondering if we can get the temp higher, or if it needs more humidity. I feel like this is all such a stab in the dark, seeing we have a homemade incubator and a themometer, no way to measure the humidity. We know it's successful so far through candling, but I have myself a little freaked out upon researching as to the viability of the chick once, and if, it's hatched. I'm even trying to prepare my husband if our first little chick should surcome to such fate.

Right now if it just hatches I would consider it a success! Wish I didn't have to wait so long to find out!!!!

 

[Andypandy]

I know the fealing. That 21 days feals like 21 Months

 

[Leaguinea]

I know the fealing. That 21 days feals like 21 Months

LOL... Try guinea eggs at 28 days... I am so stressed, I feel like I am slowly going crazy. I started them the evening of July 10th so they should hatch around the 7th or 8th. I am making myself leave the house for Saturday and Sunday just to try and keep myself sane. My mom is staying there to monitor the incubator and keep the occasional eye on the eggs. But I totally need a break away from the stress.
This is my first time incubating eggs so I am new to it and not really sure what to expect etc. this site is so helpful.

 

[Karenrubi]

I have three eggs incubated right now they’re supposed to be 20 days today but when I candle them they’re development looks as if it was 10 days. I’m scared they’re not gonna hatch

 

[TOR]

I am at the end of a hatch, they were due the 24th. Preceded in lockdown 4 days early first chicken hatched 3 days early. Hatched thru due date.
Now I also put put 5 eggs in 2 days after initial start and had 1 hatch last night and day before.
It is a little giant incubator with fan. I noticed the temperature difference when fan is on. The outside edge of the inside of box runs hotter than the center. I use 2 digital temp inside box.
The temperature can really make a difference in how fast they grow.

 

[HawaiiCoyote]

I'm SO excited for spring! My rooster is old enough to have babies now, and I have
10 hens of different breeds and ages so I'm amping! One of my Australorp hens is already going broody, and I absolutely love watching the babes hatch I'm going to hope my farm hatches go well!