Stop turning day 14 or day 18?

[coffeeaddict]

I read an article that recommended to stop turning by day 13 (since baby is turning toward air cell). Has anyone tried this? Most articles say stop turning at lockdown.

Last hatch I stopped on day 14 and still had two malpositioned chicks out of eight. Four were shipped eggs, hatched upright. Four local, laid flat. I had one malpositioned chick from each set. One was foot over head and one pipped on the wrong end. Both survived. Trying to decide what to do for my next eggs (all local) that are now day 14.

 

[ExoticPetOwner]

The eggs need to be positioned with the wide end facing up, and the pointy end facing down. The ducklings/chicks need to pip through the air sack and this helps position them correctly. The eggs should be turned 3-6 times a day. Automatic egg turners are better than doing it manually. The eggs should stop being turned 3 days before the hatch date, which is when lockdown should start. If you're talking about chicks, it should be day 18, it takes roughly 21 days for chickens to hatch from their egg. On average, lockdown should start on day 26 because it takes them about 28 days to hatch. Ducklings have a round bill so it takes them longer to hatch than a chick that has a pointy beak. Muscovys, however, are a different story. They're more closely related to geese than they are to ducks. So, they take about 35 days to incubate and should stop being turned on day 32.

 

[coffeeaddict]

The eggs need to be positioned with the wide end facing up, and the pointy end facing down. The ducklings/chicks need to pip through the air sack and this helps position them correctly. The eggs should be turned 3-6 times a day. Automatic egg turners are better than doing it manually. The eggs should stop being turned 3 days before the hatch date, which is when lockdown should start. If you're talking about chicks, it should be day 18, it takes roughly 21 days for chickens to hatch from their egg. On average, lockdown should start on day 26 because it takes them about 28 days to hatch. Ducklings have a round bill so it takes them longer to hatch than a chick that has a pointy beak. Muscovys, however, are a different story. They're more closely related to geese than they are to ducks. So, they take about 35 days to incubate and should stop being turned on day 32.

Thank you. Yes I always keep pointy end down and lockdown on day 18. Mine are turned 5 times a day manually. I was just wondering if anyone had tried out the theory of “stop turning chicken eggs by day 13” and had noticed any favorable results.

 

[Janeothejungle]

I read an article that recommended to stop turning by day 13 (since baby is turning toward air cell). Has anyone tried this? Most articles say stop turning at lockdown.

Last hatch I stopped on day 14 and still had two malpositioned chicks out of eight. Four were shipped eggs, hatched upright. Four local, laid flat. I had one malpositioned chick from each set. One was foot over head and one pipped on the wrong end. Both survived. Trying to decide what to do for my next eggs (all local) that are now day 14.

I'd be interested in reading that. Do you have a link to the article?

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

My first thought when reading your question was that artificial incubators are based on nature's way, meaning an incubator should stop turning eggs the same day a broody hen does. I've never had need for an artificial incubator since each and every year I've always had dozens of broodys. But I was pretty certain they continued to turn their eggs well past day 14. I am linking an excellent article from Brinsea. The entire article is very informative. Article says broody hens stop turning their eggs when they begin to hear their chicks peeping through the shell. That would be about day 17. The article also said eggs should not always be turned the same direction, otherwise the chalaza will wind up and eventually break. I never knew that, but thankfully my broody hens have always known.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Oops here's the brinsea article.
https://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Ad... chicks will start,position and fail to hatch.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I don’t do chicken eggs but with my duck eggs I watch the babies not the date.
I stop turning when I see the eggs moving around ( baby moving into position ) the air cell dropping forward quickly and shadowing along the air cell. Those 3 things tell me to stop turning. I don’t care if it’s day 23 or 28 it’s what the egg is doing I go by
I have high hatch rates of 90-100% and had babies hatch from day 24-30
And that’s why I go by the egg not the book
Hope this helps

 

[coffeeaddict]

I'd be interested in reading that. Do you have a link to the article?

Sure! From the article: https://hatching411.weebly.com/the-first-17-days.html

"Turning- or stopping turning - Common practice has been to stop turning when you go into lockdown. Most of your hatchers follow this guideline. An egg does not need to be turned after 2 weeks. We turn eggs so that the developing chick does not "stick" to one side of the egg because amongst other things it can cause deformities and developmental issues with the growning chick. Once the chick is developed and securly encased in the inner membrane, and has independent movement, this action is no longer required. According to the Cobb chicken embryo development chart (which you can find easily by Googling), a chick starts to make the turn toward the big end of the egg. Reasoning and logic had me questioning that if this is so, why are we still turning when the chick is repositioning itself? Could this be one reason that artificial incubation seems to produce more malepositioned chicks? I had never had a big number of malepositioned chicks myself, but it seemed like one or two always showed up in a hatch. So I decided to stop turning at the end of day 13 so they are at rest for day 14. That hatch was my first 100% hatch and not a single pointy end malepositioned pipper. I can't tell you 100% that not turning them past day 13 is why I didn't have any malepositioned, but another hatcher I was helping was having a big problem with multiple malepositioned in his hatches and I explained my theory and how I stopped turning at the end of day 13. His next hatch he tried my theory and said the amount of malepositioned significantly declined with that hatch. So since it's not neccessary, logic points to not turning after day 13 and I've had great results with it, I will continue to stop turning at that point.
NOTE: malepositioned means the chick has pipped into an area other than the air cell therfore has skipped the internal pip altogether pipping directly through the shell and causing an external pip. There are different "kinds" of malepositioning. Depending on the actual position the chick is in it may be able to hatch without assistance, or it may need help if it is going to get out alive."

 

[coffeeaddict]

My first thought when reading your question was that artificial incubators are based on nature's way, meaning an incubator should stop turning eggs the same day a broody hen does. I've never had need for an artificial incubator since each and every year I've always had dozens of broodys. But I was pretty certain they continued to turn their eggs well past day 14. I am linking an excellent article from Brinsea. The entire article is very informative. Article says broody hens stop turning their eggs when they begin to hear their chicks peeping through the shell. That would be about day 17. The article also said eggs should not always be turned the same direction, otherwise the chalaza will wind up and eventually break. I never knew that, but thankfully my broody hens have always known.

That's very helpful. Thank you. I can't have roosters so have never had the privilege of watching a broody hen do her work.