Pointy End Up vs. Pointy End Down

[frenchiegirl21]

Hello everyone!

I was told today by a good friend of mine who raises chickens for a living that you should only hatch and store hatching eggs with their pointy end up. I was always taught that they needed to be stored and hatched pointy end down. Does anyone have conclusive evidence that one method is better than the other? I'm about to set around 5 dozen eggs and am thinking of doing my own experiments to see if one method produces more chicks than the other. I'm not wanting to argue or upset people, just wondering if there is any evidence pointing to one method being more productive than the other.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/2902/2902-1090/2902-1090.html
Here is a hatching guide from VA tech maybe will help?

 

[frenchiegirl21]

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/2902/2902-1090/2902-1090.html
Here is a hatching guide from VA tech maybe will help?

Thank you for posting that article! It was very informative, but I didn't see anything about which end of the egg to leave up

I guess I'll have to wait until I do my experiment! I've got 2 incubators stabilizing right now and 62 eggs to set, 31 stored point up to hatch point up and 31 stored point down to hatch point down

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote: You are welcome- see under #3 "care of hatching eggs" and also under "turning."

If you set them with the air cell on the bottom they are vulnerable to drowning I have read, as the air cell can fill with liquid.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/458759/how-to-tell-if-a-chick-drowns
see post #4 and #5

Keep in mind that I have limited experience hatching, just relaying what I have read on BYC.

 

[kuchchicks]

You are welcome- see under #3 "care of hatching eggs" and also under "turning."

If you set them with the air cell on the bottom they are vulnerable to drowning I have read, as the air cell can fill with liquid.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/458759/how-to-tell-if-a-chick-drowns
see post #4 and #5

Keep in mind that I have limited experience hatching, just relaying what I have read on BYC.

X2!

 

[kmartinez]

I put pointy end down, I also slant them a little so they are not straight up and down

 

[eviemethugh]

Personally, I wouldn't experiment. Nothing worse than losing a chick because it can't hatch properly. The big end is where the air cell is and is where the chicks head is. If it ends up oriented with its head in the small end, it WILL NOT pip the air cell. Because it will be on the wrong end. According to this study, hatch ability was reduced 17% http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/poulsci/tech_manuals/traying_eggs.html
Although it is also my understanding that after lock down anything goes, as long as they incubated correctly, horizontal, up or down doesn't matter. Horizontal is the fastest hatching method by about 2 hours.

 

[kuchchicks]

Personally, I wouldn't experiment. Nothing worse than losing a chick because it can't hatch properly. The big end is where the air cell is and is where the chicks head is. If it ends up oriented with its head in the small end, it WILL NOT pip the air cell. Because it will be on the wrong end. According to this study, hatch ability was reduced 17% http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/poulsci/tech_manuals/traying_eggs.html
Although it is also my understanding that after lock down anything goes, as long as they incubated correctly, horizontal, up or down doesn't matter. Horizontal is the fastest hatching method by about 2 hours.

I understand being curious but it would be sad to lose chicks.

 

[frenchiegirl21]

Wow! Thanks for all the responses guys! Based on the overwhelming evidence I've flipped my eggs to all be pointy side down. It's been less than 24 hours so I hope they will be ok. Now if one of the incubators would stabilize I would be good to go!