Egg Cartons

[Bookspryte]

I hatched my first-ever chicks in egg cartons. Only one had difficulty getting out of the egg carton and she (I'm hoping) was a day earlier, significantly smaller than the other chicks and had the umbilical cord attached. Despite that, at three weeks, she's still growing and is feisty. Four of the other five chicks that hatched, pipped, zipped and hatched without any problems at all. The sixth chick I had to help out of the shell. It pipped and zipped only 3/4 of the way around before stopping. It turns out, this one was nearly cemented in place.

All 6 are fine and noisy. I plan to use the egg carton method for my future hatches, as well. I especially like the easier cleanup and the fact that the eggs didn't play bumper cars with each other.

Denise

 

[bantyshanty]

Regarding paper egg cartons: to sterilize, you can bake them in the oven for 1/2 hour at 275-300 F. They won't burn if your oven holds an even temperature (remember, Fahrenheit 451 is the temp for burning paper...). I've used this method for my current hatch and I had success hatching a perfect 7 of 7.

I cut my cartons in half, snip out the bottom 1/2 inch, and put the egg chambers facing forward about 30 degrees, with the lock-flap from the carton or part of the lid facing backward to bolster it into its angle. the chicks each naturally slid forward onto the floor as they hatched. This is in a Hovabator .
My hatch rate was much better than my last one with a bare floor, since none of the later eggs got rolled and bowled around by flailing chicks.

Hope this helps!