Forgot to cut bottom out of egg carton for hatch, is that super bad?

[Cowgirlgrace]

They can stay in the cartons. On lockdown you just stop turning. Mine were in turners then placed in cartons for lockdown. They can also lay on their sides but there has been a lot of sucess with the cartons because it keeps the hatched ones from rolling the other eggs around.

 

[crittergal]

Ok, I have heard (err, read) several people saying they use cartons in the incubator - how does that work? What are the pros and cons? Cardboard or Styrofoam? How do you turn the eggs? I was just gonna lay my eggs on the screen. . . .

Thanks

 

[momreda]

We have ours in Styrofoam, I think hubby did it because of the moisture from the humidity. He built the caron holders out of PVC and ran the PVC to the outside of the cooler so that we could turn them without having to open it. The PVC below the turner is for us to add water without opening it also.

 

[VredenburgS]

Next Question....lol...I just started my second batch of eggs tonight and was wondering about this egg carton thing.....do you just lay them sideways above holes or leave them pointy end down....how do you turn them...how do you keep them from falling in hole...crazy.....I know I must be crazy...lol

 

[gckiddhouse]

Quote:
I got this idea from a fellow BYCer. The purpose is to be able to turn your eggs quickly so as not to have the incubator open too long. Here is the page I learned from, although I suspect there are other pages that might help you. Pretty simple, just glue PVC or large dowel to the bottom and they roll to the side. https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=19548-homemade-incubator

they sort of don't get the drastic turning that they would if they were just laying on the floor of the bator and the candling will look different from those that are lying flat. At least mine looks different. All the action is at the top of the egg instead of spread over the whole side of it.

You can look at my page, too. I think I have a pic of mine in the bator.

I was going to take them out and lay them flat for lock down, but these nice folks are saying they leave them in. I think, in my case, that the the little ones on the upswing would fall out! I may just take them out for lock down as planned. I would be interested to see the set up of some others on this thread... Anyone??

 

[cook_kaka_ook]

This is what my lock-down carton looks like. I will cut the remaining peaks for maximum ventilation since I have a still-air incubator. This will be my first hatch with this method. Hopefully everything works out right.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
Yup. I just hatched 17 out of 18 with the carton bottoms intact.

 

[gckiddhouse]

And it is okay that they are developing in the top of the egg instead of on the side like they would if they were laying down? Makes candling harder.
Is it okay if I do take them out and lay them down for lock down??

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
The chicks are pretty much going to be in the same position regardless. There's kinda only one way a chick fits inside an egg...aside from the occasional dum-dum that's upside down.