egg cartons during lockdown?

[bmatrow]

kinda new to using an incubator. my first hatch was decent but the first chicks that hatched kicked the other eggs all over the incubator. wanted to maybe use egg carton to hold them this time but was worried the chicks may havea hard time hatching from in a cut down carton. anyone ever tried this? good\bad idea? thanks in advance.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Some people like to use the egg carton method while others prefer not to. Most people who use the egg carton method use it because they want to keep the egg in place while hatching and keep the other chicks from playing chick soccer with the eggs. I have read that a chick that hatches laying on its side has to keep repositioning itself inside of the egg because of the egg rolling, thus it takes the chick longer to hatch.

I hatched my eggs in a carton. I placed the eggs pointy side down (as they were throughout the entire incubation). Occasionally you will have a chick that pips slightly below where they should, and I remove those eggs from the carton and place them on the floor of the incubator.

Here is what my eggs looked like during lock down using the egg carton method:


Overall, its a matter of what you think would work better for you and your eggs. There is no right or wrong way here. What works for me may not work for you and vise-versa.

Good luck with your hatch.

 

[micmse]

I am a teacher and the most frustrating thing for my kids is when the newly hatched chicks run rough shot over the ones trying to hatch. Last year I had some eggs pipped and doing well and then got knocked all around so they stopped, then when they started again the same thing happened. I would love to see more pictures of this method and any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

What about using washed out old small milk cartons cut down? The eggs would have room to roll around while hatching without bumping into any other chicks/ eggs. Also if you aren't there during the hatch you can tell which chick came from which egg (if you are hatching a colorful mix of eggs)
I plan to find small box's or even take the cardboard thing out of a wine box to use to make little pens for the eggs this time. I want to know which chick came from which egg as i have 1 green egg, 1 dark brown (almost a purple color) egg, then several white and a few light brown.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

I hatch mine in paper cupcake liners. It works pretty well for me. The eggs can still move around a little, but they don't get kicked, and it's easier to keep track of each egg's progress. It also makes clean-up easy. But...I did recommend this method to someone else who said it made a huge mess? So I dunno...it works for me.

I also read a post where someone used those cardboard dividers from a Christmas ornament box, which sounds like a good idea. I also saw where another person constructed dividers using thin legos. It looked really cool. I want to buy legos and try it.

 

[tia]

I use this method with my duck eggs. I use an egg carton and cut it down. I also cut a hole in the bottom of each cup, so there isn't much but a frame. Sometimes they have a hard time getting up and out, but mostly it works fine. Be careful if you have a Little Giant type incubator I have had a chick get singed by being too close to the top. I don't have that kind of incubator any more. I have an incubator full of chicken egg right now and they are all on their sides... hopefully things will be okay - like that in the nest, so it should work out. Good Luck!!!

 

[bmatrow]

Thanks for all the input. Suppose ill try some in egg carton and a few in cupcake liners. See what works best for me. Maybe get some of the egg carton trays like you get the 36 packs of eggs in from the grocery store, they wouldnt really need cut down. Although its not like my fridge needs another 36 eggs in it. lol