any egg carton method pics?

[Mom2Cool]

well frankly I'd just used this method & I thought it was great & a lot easier than turning every single egg, but at the same time I've not gotten any that had hatched. now I'm on day 20 and so there's a small window of time I guess but I'm not holding out much hope.

But this hatching was something of an experiement anyway because the eggs I'd used were from hens that are pretty young and so I'm thinking maybe there was an issue with the eggs. After day 18 I did keep them in the carton but cut the carton back like shown in the last picture so they're sitting up right but not leaning any more..

As for controversy I figure nothing ventured nothing gained right?

 

[Mrs MIA]

This is the only way I hatch now. I have 29 eggs in the incubator, and they were in a carton on the turner in my Sportsman, and are now sitting in a carton in the hatcher with 3 pips already. Yeah, I get a few from time to time that don't hatch, but I don't think it's because of the carton. As long as you give them room to breathe, there's nothing wrong with it. And cleanup is a cinch.

 

[twigg]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

This is the only way I hatch now. I have 29 eggs in the incubator, and they were in a carton on the turner in my Sportsman, and are now sitting in a carton in the hatcher with 3 pips already. Yeah, I get a few from time to time that don't hatch, but I don't think it's because of the carton. As long as you give them room to breathe, there's nothing wrong with it. And cleanup is a cinch.

Anecdotal evidence is nice

However, it can also be very misleading to newcomers, who need to understand the basics.

Egg carton hatching is controversial, unproven and practised by no one other than a few hobbiests. It is not recommended by any incubator manufacturers, not is it a method used by any commercial hatcheries, all of whom hatch at 95% plus rates, in open trays.

I am all for experienced people varying their methods, and sharing the results ..... but these are not basic techniques, and are just one more unnecessary variable for newbies to manage.

Egg cartons, by the way, do nothing much to aid clean up. Clean up requires that you remove the large bits of shell and any waste, then sterlise everything. All the parts of the incubators we generally use can be removed easily for washing in a sink, then soaking a mild clorox solution.

I am concerned here that people who haven't yet grasped the basics are being encouraged to try things whose value is dubious.​

 

[joshua.w.garner]

Quote:
Post a picture!!

 

[Mom2Cool]

Oh well see I didn't think "managing the egg carton" was all that difficult of a thing. I mean I'd already tried the turing of all the eggs in a prior "experiement" & they had not hatched either (they were shipped eggs) but the turning of all the eggs by hand I was always concerned the eggs were handled a bit too much. I thought the egg carton was less of a concern to manage than having all the eggs in there sitting on their own.

I understand there's controversy & people don't have to use an egg carton but if some want to try it (even us novice) I think we should just be left to do so. It's not like we're children who don't understand it didn't come with the directions etc.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

This is the only way I hatch now. I have 29 eggs in the incubator, and they were in a carton on the turner in my Sportsman, and are now sitting in a carton in the hatcher with 3 pips already. Yeah, I get a few from time to time that don't hatch, but I don't think it's because of the carton. As long as you give them room to breathe, there's nothing wrong with it. And cleanup is a cinch.

Same here. I wont ever hatch without using a carton again.​

 

[Mrs MIA]

I agree, there are basic techniques that should be mastered by anyone hatching for the first time. And I am by no means an expert at hatching, even though I've hatched my fair share of chicks. I will clarify that, for me, hatching in a carton speeds up the clean up process immensely because I don't have to spend time picking up all the little shards of shell. I use the rubber shelf liner over 1/4" hardware cloth, then set the cartons on top. Whatever shell is not caught by the carton is then rolled up in the liner, which is then shaken out and washed in the washing machine (air dried). Then the disinfecting of the hatcher or incubator with a diluted bleach solution commences. I did not mean to imply that I skipped the disinfecting process by stating that clean up was a cinch.
I've tried to hatch 40 eggs at once on their sides, and the first few chicks that hatch are usually lawn-bowling with the other eggs that haven't hatched yet. It disrupts their hatching process, sometime wedging them into other eggs so tight that they can't get out. Especially with the quail. I admit I was reluctant to try it at first, because it was so "controversial", but now I don't understand what the hub-bub is all about... new technologies are popping up all the time that improve the processes we do on a daily basis... why can't it apply to hatching eggs, too? Just because the big big big walk-in incubators aren't built to hatch in a carton doesn't mean they can't, or shouldn't. Not every incubator can accomodate a carton, like the LG. Even the Hovabator has limited headroom. But if you have a cabinet hatcher, or a homemade, the cartons make it a lot easier. Just my humble opinion... take it or leave it.

 

[Mahonri]

I put this on my other thread, but hopefully I'll be able to show you lots of empty shells by Sunday!

 

[twigg]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

I agree, there are basic techniques that should be mastered by anyone hatching for the first time. And I am by no means an expert at hatching, even though I've hatched my fair share of chicks. I will clarify that, for me, hatching in a carton speeds up the clean up process immensely because I don't have to spend time picking up all the little shards of shell. I use the rubber shelf liner over 1/4" hardware cloth, then set the cartons on top. Whatever shell is not caught by the carton is then rolled up in the liner, which is then shaken out and washed in the washing machine (air dried). Then the disinfecting of the hatcher or incubator with a diluted bleach solution commences. I did not mean to imply that I skipped the disinfecting process by stating that clean up was a cinch.
I've tried to hatch 40 eggs at once on their sides, and the first few chicks that hatch are usually lawn-bowling with the other eggs that haven't hatched yet. It disrupts their hatching process, sometime wedging them into other eggs so tight that they can't get out. Especially with the quail. I admit I was reluctant to try it at first, because it was so "controversial", but now I don't understand what the hub-bub is all about... new technologies are popping up all the time that improve the processes we do on a daily basis... why can't it apply to hatching eggs, too? Just because the big big big walk-in incubators aren't built to hatch in a carton doesn't mean they can't, or shouldn't. Not every incubator can accommodate a carton, like the LG. Even the Hovabator has limited headroom. But if you have a cabinet hatcher, or a homemade, the cartons make it a lot easier. Just my humble opinion... take it or leave it.

Y'all are perfectly free to do what you want with your eggs.

But I will challenge statements that suggest that *rolling around* in any way harms or inhibits hatching. There is no evidence for this, and plenty of evidence that suggests it isn't so.

This is a BYC fad ..... for which there is nothing more than a small amount of anecdotal evidence.

It really doesn't matter how big a commercial incubator is. They hatch chickens in trays that have a capacity of 200 eggs. Quite honestly, the only thing that matters to a chick, is the proximity of it's immediate neighbors, and that is probably the same in a 300 egg Sportsman, as a 500 000 egg commercial set up.

As I said .... newbies need the whole story, not just the latest *good idea*​

 

[hinkjc]

I hatch mine laying them on the incubator floor (wire) and typically get 95-100% hatches. I'm not sure I understand the 'easier to clean' reference. Don't the chicks just fall out of the carton onto the wire floor and make their first poops on the wire anyway? I would think cleanup would be about the same.

I can definitely see using this as an easier method to turn eggs during the first 18 days, versus hand turning. Good idea!