Lockdown tonight - what do you do?

[williamsl77]

Alright... would love to know the pros/cons of hatching in cartons, directly on wire, etc. What do YOU do for lockdown?

Tonight, I candled the eggs (all good, I think). I put them on their sides directly on the wire with as much of the aircell up as I could. Will they get themselves in the right positions if their hatchmates roll them over? Is the egg carton better?

 

[julia39]

I am incubating eggs for the first time....due jan 5th and later.....and plan on taking mine out of the carton for lockdown....that way they have as much wiggle room as they need to get out of their shells....

 

[BairleaFarm]

Ive hatched both ways. I try to put them on their side if i have the room. Its funny watching them roll around and bump into each other.

 

[BHep]

I do not use carton. IMO....on their side naturally. Not that incubating is natural

just addicting.

 

[williamsl77]

Also, I have read in some posts that you should try to turn off the fan for lockdown? I can't find that post now. Is that for all of lockdown or just external pip to try to avoid shrink wrapping? My humidity is 71% right now.

Thanks!

 

[nurse_turtle]

No egg cartons here either but some folks swear by them. I use that soft, kinda squishy shelf liner on top of the wire, mostly for easy cleanup. I didn't use it for my first ever hatch and it was a bit of a mess and required a lot of cleaning/sanitizing. I never worry about all the bumping and rolling about of the eggs. The chicks in the eggs can hear the others peeping and it seems to encourage the others, like tiny, fuzzy cheerleaders. Keep in mind that lockdown means lockdown. Lots of looking, no touchy touchy! You will worry too much and sleep too little and you'll be back here so we can all go through this with you. Lockdown vicariously through you. Don't worry too much about humidity. When they start pipping and hatching, it will go up naturally.

I've never turned my fan off during lockdown...

 

[BHep]

Quote:



me neither

I keep my humidity 50-55% at lock down. 71% is pretty high...could cause drowning.

 

[chickee]

I always use egg cartons for hatching and have great hatches

Never turn off the fan!

65% humidity for hatching is the recommended humidity. As the chicks hatch, the humidity will go up with the added moisture from the hatching eggs.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[williamsl77]

71% is too high?

 

[chickee]

Quote:
71 percent humidity isn't necessary. I don't even raise the humidity until day 20. They just need the extra humidity on hatch day. Some of my chicks begin hatching on day 20 so I up the humidity from 40% (that is what I keep it at from day 1 through day 19) to 65% on day 20. If you keep the humidity too high day 18 through day 21 it won't allow the eggs to loose the moisture they need to loose for a nice dry hatch.