hatching tray ???

[FarmGirl01]

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Thats what I use. Non-slip shelf liner.

 

[aceoftrumps]

I use cheese cloth to line the wire floor...as per another tip on this site. And it works great for me. Just chunk it after the hatch. Clean up is much easier. And it allows the normal air flow.

Curt

 

[fanov8]

I got little basket for mine last time. They are kinda like the cheap plastic trays that you use for your silverware. They have a solid bottom but the sides are all open squares for the air flow. I trimmed them down to make sure that they would fit. I believe they are around 3" wide by 7-8" long and I cut them to about 3" tall. They really helped with the mess last hatch and I didn't have any problems at all. I put them in on lockdown day.

 

[tigercreek]

Thanks all,
I do appreciate the advice. My main concern is keeping the air flow around the egg so temp stays stable. I think I will go with a wire bottom in a plastic box, ( bottom cut out ), with cheese cloth or those rubber shelf liners if I can find them. First attempt!! Not so nervuos, but I did throw the baby out with the bath watere! I was candeling and mixed up one of the goods with a dud. I was really dissapointed when I cracked it open to see if there was fertility . There was .....stan

 

[jvls1942]

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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!

incubating in an incubator is un-natural. so might as well go one step farther and use egg cartons..

 

[StormyMoon]

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Aww I am sorry to hear that.....I am sure you will do what you feel is the best way to do it.
I would never claim my way is the only way or anything like that, all we can do is practice and learn.

 

[jettgirl24]

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 love this

I was a nervous stressball wreck my first hatch! I'm still new (this is only my second hatch) but I'm am so much better this time! I came home the other day and temps were a little low because I hadn't had time to wait for them to steady after I turned before work. This would have been cause for nervous breakdown my first time round! This time, totally chill

It does help that my homemade bator doesn't jump all over the place with the temperature like the LG I used for my first hatch did but I've also come to realize that in nature nothing is perfect so if the incubation isn't totally perfect the little chickies will still be ok!

ANYWAYS.... Back to the question... I too used the shelf liners last hatch and will be using them again this time. They were nice and soft for the little ones and seem to keep the eggs fairly stable when the babies start coming out (although they can still get quite a good soccer game going in there

).​

 

[Kaneke]

just an idea, but anyone tried using the sort of plastic baskets that strawberries are sold in ? for lockdown to keep eggs from getting kicked ?

 

[tigercreek]

I'm a first timer, and I am not too stressed, my eggs were $3 a dozen. Not to say I don't care about killing chicks, I'm just saying that I know this is a learning experience, and that is the reason for this and other questions. I would like to add that natures way is not always the best way. All natural?? Arsnic is all natural. Lots of hens lose clutches due to high temps, too much humidity, snakes or a hundred other things that we who have incubators are trying to control. Just saying, ...........stan

 

[fanov8]

Quote:
That's similar to what I was talking about in the post above (up a few actually). They are very simiar to the strawberry baskets. They worked fantastic for me last hatch and I am using them again this hatch