Bedding for incubator?

[hayoungyun]

Hi Today's day 17 for my egg . My incubator is homemade and made out of cardboard so I layered the floor with ripped cardboard pieces then many layers of paper towels and tissue paper. Is it all right? I'm worried about what might happen during hatching time. Like having tissue paper stuck to the chick or the chick eating the tissue paper. If it's not all right then any suggestions?

 

[hayoungyun]

Can anyone please answer?

 

[WalnutHill]

Good morning. It's early morning here in the USA, many of us are just starting our day.

I would leave the tissue paper out. The rest sounds okay, but you will need to discard it all quickly.

If you can use a plastic tub it will last longer as you can clean it.

If you can use wood shavings about 1 cm x 1 cm that is good too. Use the kind sold as rabbit bedding.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Walnut, I think this is a cardboard incubator not a brooder. I’ve been wrong before.

I don’t know how you are handling humidity in that incubator. As long as it is warm enough the chick will not chill so I think it will be OK even if it is a bit damp.

A chick might or might not peck at the tissue paper. Even if it does it probably won’t eat enough to harm itself. Many incubators use a wire mesh for the chicks to hatch on. This gives their feet a good purchase so they don’t slip and injure a tendon. But many people use paper towels in the brooder for the same reason, at least for a few days before just going with wood shavings. There are lots of different ways to do this.

I don’t see any harm in the tissue paper sticking to the chick if it does, but the paper towels by themselves should be sufficient.

Good luck!

 

[WalnutHill]

Good catch, thanks. Can you tell I am not a morning person?

For an incubator, I'd leave out the tissue paper and double up on paper towel.

 

[hayoungyun]

oh okay... Thanks walnuthill, ridgerunner!

 

[RubyNala97]

I read somewhere (I think it was here) to use shelving liner. The liner you use to line kitchen cabinets or kitchen drawers with. They have it at the dollar store or Walmart.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I read somewhere (I think it was here) to use shelving liner. The liner you use to line kitchen cabinets or kitchen drawers with. They have it at the dollar store or Walmart.

That's what I use, the rubber shelf liner from the dollar stores. Don't know how common it is in other countries though.