hatching tray ???

[tigercreek]

Looking for a cloth or some kind of liner for a hatching tray that will allow air flow?? What do you use?? Lockdown Thursday!! thanks ......stan

 

[chickpeaz]

I have a homemade cabinet 'bator with a solid floor and I just lay a dishtowel in the bottom before I lockdown. All of my heat comes from the top so airflow is not a big concern, but it seems to help the chicks get their footing and reduces the soccer playing with the other eggs that are still waiting to hatch.

 

[tigercreek]

Thanks Chickpeaz!,
I might just use that idea. Do you think I could put the eggs in cut out cartons and put them in the bottom of the incubator? I was concerned about the air flow and temp around the unhatched eggs. ..stan

 

[StormyMoon]

I usually just use the floor of the bator, but today I am going to try using egg cartons for hatching and see if that gives me better results than laying them flat.

 

[key west chick]

I use, ahh crap what is it. Its not shelf liner. Well, maybe it is sorta. But its rubber. I got it from the grocery store in the isle with all the other household do flotchies. Its in a roll. Maybe its rubber shelf liner. Idk, sorry. Its been awhile since I bought some. Works great though. Its not slippery and I just rinse it in some bleach water between uses.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
They are self liners. I love them. Little chickies can't get feeties scratched by wire.

 

[chickpeaz]

Quote:
Lots of people hatch in cartons. I don't. I know people have been successful with it, and it's pretty much what the mass-production hatcheries do, but it just seems unnatural to me. Eggs don't stand on end in the nest; to me, if incubating is meant to mimic a natural process, I want to respect the natural means by which it happens. I also turn by hand and don't panic about precise humidity and temps, so this is my very humble, clearly slapdash-and-lackadaisical, 2-cents-worth opinion. Feel free to disregard at will!

 

[StormyMoon]

Quote:
Lots of people hatch in cartons. I don't. I know people have been successful with it, and it's pretty much what the mass-production hatcheries do, but it just seems unnatural to me. Eggs don't stand on end in the nest; to me, if incubating is meant to mimic a natural process, I want to respect the natural means by which it happens. I also turn by hand and don't panic about precise humidity and temps, so this is my very humble, clearly slapdash-and-lackadaisical, 2-cents-worth opinion. Feel free to disregard at will!

Maybe I need to train my brain to work like that too I have done most of them by laying flat but my very last two hatches went horribly wrong.

So now I am experimenting to see what methods work best and keeping notes on all the hatches day by day as I make any changes.

 

[ilovebuffs]

This is my 2nd year hatching...I have used a thick paper towel on the bottom, I have hatched in the egg cartons...but this time I think I have found what I really like. We bought a box of apple from the farmers market and I decided to try the cardboard that separates the layers of apples. It works GREAT! The eggs lay flat, they don't get knocked around as the chicks hatch, and the hatched chicks fit nicely in the "dips" to sleep in. I will be going to the produce section at the grocery store to see if I can get some more of them. It's just what worked for me!

 

[chickpeaz]

Stormymoon -- I'm all for making changes to increase your hatch rates. I've had good luck with my low-key approach, so it pains me to see first-timers get so stressed out over the details! People make it out like it has to be so...precise. I think sometimes we need to step back and remember that hens have been hatching successfully {gasp!} for thousands of years without our help, our hygrometers, or our candling boxes! I think a dishtowel or some rubber shelf liner is a cheap, easy solution if you just want something gentle for your chicks to hatch on. I know cartons have worked well for some people, too, but like I said, it weirds me out to stand eggs on end to hatch. (It bugs me that doctors put laboring moms flat on their backs and strap them to monitors in a delivery room, too -- again, this is NOT how nature intended for babies to be born!)

But if something's NOT working for you, by all means, change it up like you're doing (observe carefully, take notes, make adjustments). Technology evolves and we find things that work better than the old ways sometimes. But the newbies (and I am not directing this at the OP, I'm just making an observation) need to be careful that they don't throw the baby out with the bathwater (I've got babies on the brain today) and assume that doing it "the new way" always means they're doing it the RIGHT way or the ONLY way, or even the BEST way. Sometimes it's just the newest way.

/end rant