Egg Carton Hatching Method Feedback *UPDATE*Tried It*Relults*

[S n M Poultry]

So should i try this?

Oh and bye the way its my 800th post

 

[Katy]

It's certainly your choice. Some of us have been having good luck with doing it this way. I've got chicks hatching out in the cartons right now.

 

[hiddenmagnolia]

I have always had very good hatch rate and very easy clean up with this method. I have used this egg carton method for over 15 years. I started doing it this way because I hatched lots of eggs and it was cleaner and faster and could put more eggs in.

 

[S n M Poultry]

ok so i guess i will try it

 

[talos321]

Worked well for me. No problems other than the chicks peeping loudly trying to get out of the bottom of the shell. I would position them a little different as a small section of my carton was near the heating element of the LG and one chick kept heading for that and falling on the heat element. Luckily it was near the plug hole so I kept knocking him off that with a straw and finally just made a baby gate with the straw. He wasn't harmed though just some singed fluff.

 

[ginasmarans]

I'm on my 3rd hatch for this year. The last 2 were not great,but I had shipped eggs. I am trying the egg carton method this time(again with shipped eggs),so we'll see if it helps. My reason for doing it is because I had several eggs pip correctly,then get rolled over by hatched chicks.If I open the bater to turn the egg,I jeopardize the hatch, if I don't,most likely they get stuck to the wire and can't get out. I also used the shelf liner with the other two,and will not do that again. In my experience,and please note,only mine, the eggs and chicks stuck to it more. I had to peel several chicks off because they stuck to it before they dried off. Now that may have been due to the humidity being a bit low, but it seemed more unforgiving of those issues. Hatch date is 5-8 and I have 18 eggs in(I have culled none so far).

 

[ChicknThief]

OK, so I tried the carton method.

Here are the results.

Out of 11 viable eggs, I got 6 chicks, which is not too shabby for shipped eggs.
At this point I am not sure if I will try this again or not. I certainly did not see what people meant about it taking less time from pip to hatch, as that certainly was not our experience. If anything the chick seemed to be having a harder go of it than when we were not using the carton. I wound up having to save all but two chicks. The others could not push themselves around, because it took so long for them after they pipped and started to zip, that the membranes dried, and they were GLUED to the shells. It would literally take me a few minutes, just to unstick them so they could be born. I don't know if that is an outside cicumstance or not, LOL.
We did have a short drop in humidiy, but the rest of the time it was at or above 70%.

On the other hand, my hatch rate might very well have been lower if the eggs had been knocked around.

 

[AussieSharon]

I just hatched this week using the egg carton method. 14 eggs total, 12 in the carton and 2 in the bottom of the bator. 11 hatched. The 2 in the bottom of the bator didn't. The egg got knocked around by the chicks already hatched and were fully formed and dead in the shell, didn't even pip. I know they were alive because I picked them up and heard chirping inside.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Second hatch with the eggs in cartons and just like the first time it was great! 11/11 hatched with no problems and quick to zip and hop out. I kept the humidity at 65/70%.

As long as I keep my hands out of the hatcher it usually goes well, it's when I open and close it that I have problems with the membranes drying and with the cartons I just let them do their thing lol.

I do check late hatchers to make sure there are no bottom pips though, none so far......Norma

 

[twigg]

people here are backyard breeders not a hatchery to comepair to that is absered cuz people here at byc don't have the million $ equipment a hatchery has and most r very new to hatching not experienced. they look to us for guidance with questions to help based on our hands on experience and knowledge not what a hatchery may or may not do that was not the question asked.

Ok ..... I think this thread ran out of usefulness a good while ago, but you make some pretty wild statements and I shall address them.

First. It is simple common sense to look to the commercial producers for help in succeeding. No one has suggested emulating them, but the question here was posed under very narrow confines .... that is, are there good reasons why chicken eggs would hatch better in an egg carton, or not. The common feeling being that the rolling around cannot be good for them.

Egg cartons may indeed have a place, but not for this reason .... well not in any way supported by evidence. You might not like this simple conclusion, but that's neither here nor there. As a conclusion, it is inescapable, until there is evidence otherwise.

Commercial hatcheries hatch eggs in trays, up to 200 per tray. The rolling and jostling must be considerable, yet they achieve uniform, and uniformly excellent hatch rates. Quite why you think this fact is suddenly to be ignored because a few people think egg cartons are neat and tidy is beyond me.

But you are right in one respect. People do come here for help and advice. They deserve that advice to be accurate and well founded.​