Chook Me!

when i place my chicken eggs in an incubator, do they go pointed end down or up?

also, during hatching period, should the eggs be upright or on their sides? if upright, pointed end up or down???? plz list sources

Public Comments

1. when you remove the chicken eggs from the nest put an X on the top part and then when you put them in the incubator put the X side up.
2. Pointy side down.
3. you are supposed to turn the eggs so i don't think it matters cuz you have to turn them if you don't they can grow wrong
4. Down.
5. Place eggs on their side with small end pointed slightly down when in a incubator. Three days before total incubation and hatching time, discontinue turning eggs
6. you want to put the air bubble up not down and you need to rotate them every day if your incubator doesn't move them by itself. they need to be rotated. I hatched eggs in HS and I have raised chickens for 5 years..
7. Pointed side always goes downward. Here is a link with the instruction of proper care and incubation.. http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/hatch.htm Sapphyre Certified Avian Specialist http://www.borrowed-rainbow.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BorrowedRainbowAviary/ If you need any other help please contact me.
8. You have to turn the eggs or the chicks will come out with shell stuck to their little bodies and it can harm them when they are hatching. The girl that said to put the X on them was right on as to how we did it in high school.
9. Before incubation the egg needs to be stored point down. However, once you begin incubation, you will need to place the egg on it's side, the same as it would be in the nest. Take a non-toxic marker and put a mark on one side of each egg. Turn the eggs so that one day the mark is up and the next day the mark is down. This ensures that the chick inside must move around (building up muscles needed for hatching). It's because of this turning that the egg Must be on it's side. Three or so days before they are due to hatch Stop turning them. At this point they have started breathing air in a small "Bubble" inside the shell, and turning can cause suffocation. The site below has instructions for incubating. Go to "turning eggs" in the middle of the sheet. The sheet says that you can place the egg on it's side or "Air cell end up"... Air cell end up means the end where the air bubble settled, and you'll need to candle each egg to see where that is. Otherwise, it'd have said "Pointy end Up" or "Pointy end down"... It's not. It's wherever the air bubble is. Hope that helps some.