Hatching in cartons

[boyntonhillchicks]

I have chicken eggs with small air cells that will be going into lockdown tonight.....wondering what the advantages are to hatching in cartons? Will they help to prevent the chicks from drowning with the small air cells? I have had 2 previous hatches with only 4 hatching each time and the rest dying fully formed in egg. Thanks....

 

[Riffecreek]

I hatch all mine standing up.. You need to put the egg cartons in the incubator before you get ready for lock down if they aren't already in there.. That lets the humidity stabilize before hatch time.. the paper egg trays/flats suck up moisture and lowers the humidity for a little while..

 

[boyntonhillchicks]

My eggs are in the turner still and I have lowered the humidity to 35-40% for the last 2 days was going to take out turner tonight and put in cartons. Then up humidity to 60-65%??

 

[david's grammy]

I have hatched in egg cartons with great success. My bator is full of guineas that went into lock down 5pm on Wed. So far only one has hatched : ( no pips even. I live in Ks and it is so dry here, so I have had trouble with humidity problems this time, but I have been hatching eggs for 3 years now and never this problem. I had all tray full, 4 sponges one in each corner. Finally last nite, when I removed my 1 lonely little keet and added for more sponges. Wondering, if in this time frame, if they have all died in the shell...BOO HOO..... I candled at lock down ,all were good and ready to go...weird. I cut down the sides of carton a little in case they pipped at the side, but not EVEN ONE PIP...had 41 eggs in. Have 3 other incubators with 41 eggs....hope this is not a pattern...grrr...

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

No I dont think it will help, I think it makes drowning more likely with small air cells. The chick has his head under its wing an cant stretch out. With the egg on its side an the chick pips in to the air cell extra moisture runs in to the air cell an the air comes in around the chicks head. If you stand the egg on end when the chick pips the air cell nothing moves. The air is still it the top of the egg an the chick is under water.

 

[david's grammy]

I have hatched in egg cartons before, but maybe I drown them....since only

one pipped ....shoot...

 

[Higins00]

How do you have your eggs now? Are they on their sides? If they are you don't want to change the position to standing up. I use the paper towel roll method. In lockdown I tilt the fat end up just a little. Here is a picture of them sitting natural on their side.

If you have them in a turner I'd say you can use the carton but make sure you cut it down and make holes in the bottom .

 

[Lark Rise]

For my first 2 hatches, I set the eggs on the screen. For the 3rd hatch, I thought I'd try the carton method--eggs pointy side down. What I found was that they take longer to come out when they are sitting upright in the carton than when they were laying on the screen. Also, some were pipped but couldn't seem to go further. It seemed like they were taking forever. They had pipped for over 24 hours and I thought they were dead, so I finally put the last few ones on their sides and within a couple hours they hatched. I won't be using the carton method for hatching again, only for incubating. Just my experience.



ETA: I like the method above! May have to try that next time.
P.S. Beautiful colored eggs!