Found a neat way to stop new chicks playing hockey with hatching eggs!

[lexgold]

My connection is slow so sorry for not posting pictures.
Have been experimenting with using little plastic baskets from the dollar store to put my pheasant eggs in to stop them getting rolled around during the hatch. So far they are working great!
They are three inches wide, six inches long and three inches tall (probably intended to be cutlery drawer liners) with open lattice sides. I punched lots of big holes in the bases so that air can circulate. My last few hatches had been a nightmare with chicks rolling eggs into the walls of the incubator.
I also lined the wire floor with the grippy drawer liner sheet before setting the baskets on top and placing two eggs in each. The drawer liner really cuts down on the mess dripping down into the water and creating foul odors! Hopefully this week's hatch...with five eggs...will go well!

 

[msheets]

That sounds like a pretty cool idea! I've been worrying about that when my chicks hatched, I think I'll have to try that out (=

 

[lexgold]

Well it's working again.

Just hatched three chicks and the other two are pipped! Am going to line the baskets with the grippy drawer liner stuff too. The first two chicks jumped out of the pens within hous of hatching, but the one that didn't is slipping and sliding in there a little. I hatched one chick on the floor as an experiment and he is the slowest to hatch so far, which might of course be a coincidence. Will post pictures when I get the chance!

 

[Fay at Frizzled Feathers]

Congrats on your hatch !

I also use the plastic baskets for seperating my breeds durring hatches . I just line the bottoms of the basket with a folded paper towel makes for easy clean up. We put wire over the tops so the chicks cant jump out.

 

[pfmoore17]

It sounds like you have a Hovabator with a plastic try floor. Instead of putting water into that to maintain humdity, I put a ceramic coffee cup in the cornor and run a piece of fish tank hose into to to add water. I fill the cup and it stays at 63% humidity the entire lockdown. Plus the chicks can drink from it! it has worked well, no drownings!

 

[lexgold]

I'm now three more hatches down the road and have had 100% hatch rate on my own eggs. Still using the trays but didn't bother with the grippy stuff...they seemed to do fine on the wire floor.
Like the idea of the cup of water...guess you could put marbles or rocks in it so they can't drown...