Egg Carton Method

[ColtHandorf]

Years ago when I was an active member on the forum with my old account, many people were loud supporters of setting the eggs into a paper egg carton once turning was done (lock down) and allowing them to hatch in an upright manner. I believe the method was considered by most to be successful as hatching chicks didn't disturb the eggs of their clutch mates and the egg cartons absorbed a lot of mess and made cleanup of the incubator much easier. Is this still a popular method to use? I'd never done it, but as I get closer to having to incubate eggs again, I'm trying to re-familiarize myself with the process.

 

[R2elk]

Years ago when I was an active member on the forum with my old account, many people were loud supporters of setting the eggs into a paper egg carton once turning was done (lock down) and allowing them to hatch in an upright manner. I believe the method was considered by most to be successful as hatching chicks didn't disturb the eggs of their clutch mates and the egg cartons absorbed a lot of mess and made cleanup of the incubator much easier. Is this still a popular method to use? I'd never done it, but as I get closer to having to incubate eggs again, I'm trying to re-familiarize myself with the process.

I have seen the egg carton method recommended for shipped eggs because of their poor air cells. I have not seen it recommended for home grown eggs.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Hmmm...

I think one of the people I remember posting about it frequently was @MissPrissy who is no longer an active member. @bamachick and a few others used the method as well. Maybe @speckledhen remembers the pros and cons of it as she was an active member in many of the popular Orpington threads where the method was discussed. I do believe the majority of the time the method was used on shipped Orpington eggs being shared between breeders, but I think a few of the breeders liked the cleanliness of it enough to also use it on their own eggs.

 

[aart]

I can see it for shipped egg with wonky air cells.
Remembers the popularity and debates over using cartons.
Don't see it as much these days.
Airflow can be an issue, leading to cutting the bottoms and sides of carton away.
I tried it once, cardboard absorbed a lot of humidity and carton could constrict hatching if pip wasn't thru the air cell.

 

[speckledhen]

Hmmm...

I think one of the people I remember posting about it frequently was @MissPrissy who is no longer an active member. @bamachick and a few others used the method as well. Maybe @speckledhen remembers the pros and cons of it as she was an active member in many of the popular Orpington threads where the method was discussed. I do believe the majority of the time the method was used on shipped Orpington eggs being shared between breeders, but I think a few of the breeders liked the cleanliness of it enough to also use it on their own eggs.

Hi, Colt. Gosh, that was so long ago. If you hatch in an incubator with a turner then, the aircells are upright, just tilted from side to side. If I hatched without a turner, I never used the egg carton method. Seemed more natural to lay them on their sides as they would be under a broody hen. So, never used the egg cartons, personally.