dickey or other cbinet hatching question

[muddyhorse]

I have a dickey incubator and after having it a month all 3 turning trays are full

any way when you use the hatching tray how do you set yours up. I was used to hatching in egg cartons but if I put them in the cartons then put the lid on there is no space for the chicks to get out. if I lay them on their sided they roll allover the place. last week I had all 18 eggs hatch a first for me and right now some of Pearly Sues Light sussex are hatching like popcorn down there.

 

[BHep]

I just hatched Sat. for the first time in my Dickey. I just laid the eggs on there sides in the tray & put the lid on. I had 63 eggs in there and there was some empty spaces that the chicks were in amd some were climbing on top of the other eggs. They were fine.

Now I did have some issues with shrink wrapping. It MAY have been due to the sudden increase in the outside temps & humidity.

Some chicks hatched Friday & did fine, then on Sat. is when I had problems. I ended up opening the incubator and pulling them all out and putting them in my Brinsea, I had to help a bunch out, they were all pipped with a hole but stuck in the eggs. Save all but 2.

Good Luck !!

 

[keesmom]

I watched a long time local breeder set up his eggs for hatching in his Sportsman. He puts his eggs in cartons, then puts those in grapefruit bags to hatch, to make sure he can keep track of all his pens with certainty. He has an older 1202 with no hatching tray and apparently it works fine!

 

[muddyhorse]

hmm he might be on to something with the grapefruit bags

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I carton hatch in my Dickey 2x2. Since you have to take the hatching tray lid off to do that I fashioned a collar from some wide aluminum foil to go across the back of the hatching tray. This makes a barrier too high for the chicks to get over and fall out the back. I then slide the tray forward until it is just short of touching the door when it's closed. This keeps them from falling out from the front. Now they have plenty of vertical space to hatch, but can't fall out of the trays.