When to stop turning?

[FloridaChick88]

I have 11 bantam and 1 standard size egg in my incubator right now. Most of the eggs were put in the incubator on the 8th of this month with the exception of 2 bantam eggs and the large egg. When should i stop turning them? All of the bantams that we have hatched naturally from these hens tend to come a few days early and my big girls eggs always hatch right on day 21. This is my first time incubating babies myself so im pretty nervous and i dont want to harm any of them by taking the turner out too soon.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The standard method used is after 18 days of incubation you take out the turner and increase humidity. This is typically called lockdown. I also started eggs on the 8th and will lockdown Thursday the 26th.

Technically you don’t have to turn chicken eggs after about 14 days if incubation. Turning early in incubation helps the body parts to form in the right places and keeps the yolk and developing chick from touching the inside of the shell and getting stuck. By 14 days the body parts have formed and the membrane around the chick has developed to protect it from touching the inside of the shell. You could have stopped turning yesterday, but I kept going. It doesn’t hurt to keep turning the eggs, you just don’t have to.

The turner needs to be out when they hatch. One is kind of a selfish reason, chicks make a real mess when they hatch with that hatch gunk plus they start pooping fairly soon. Cleaning that turner is a lot easier if it is taken out before they hatch. Plus a lot of turners have sharp corners where the chick could get a leg, wing, or neck stuck. You don’t need to give them an opportunity to hurt themselves.

Since Day 18 is when we normally increase humidity for hatch, it’s convenient to take the turner out then.

Good luck with your hatch.

 

[FloridaChick88]

Thank you! Do you mind me asking what kind of incubator you are using? Right now i have one that i bought at tractor supply and i dont really have an accurate way of controlling humidity...

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have an old Genesis Hovabator 1588. It’s a Styrofoam incubator with a fan and an automatic turner. It holds 42 eggs but I only have 28 in it.

I have no idea how accurate my hygrometer is. Through trial and error I’ve determined that my best hatches come when I can keep the humidity around 39% to 40% as shown on that hygrometer through incubation and raise the humidity to at least 65% during hatch. Different humidities work for different ones of us. You do need a hygrometer, even if it is not real accurate, so you know how you need to adjust the humidity if your hatch tells you that you need to. It’s kind of late now but I suggest it for your next hatch.

 

[EthanTheChicken]

I would stop turning mine on day 18 and put them on their side and spread them out a bit!