March 2023 hatch-a-long

[pinewoodacres]

Awesome
I might try that this time
Do you cut the egg cartons up
Will the early hatched one knock over the late hatches ?

I cut off the lid part, and then cut the cup area down a little bit so there’s better air flow. I’m sure I have a picture somewhere, and I haven’t done it just yet for this batch but I will look back through pics from last year.

I have never had any issues with it. Not one to speak of. I like that I can see pretty well if they are pipping and zipping or if they are getting into trouble (I always try not to help but I can at least monitor the situation if I can see where they have pipped or if it looks like they’re not able to turn, etc.). They sit in the cups sometimes or perch on the side but the weight of the eggs doesn’t allow the whole thing to flip or anything. I do remove in batches periodically depending how many have hatched and if there’s a strong fluffy one pecking at the new hatchlings or whatever else, so the issue of them knocking eggs around is minimized in that way as well. I have never done it differently but it seems like setting them on their sides would allow them to knock the pip/zip ones around and mess things up. That whole thing is more contained when a broody is involved since she’s literally sitting and limiting their movement, so I do feel using the cartons is almost a little more natural, even if they wouldn’t hatch upright like that. Since they are like that through the whole process, it doesn’t interfere with them getting into position, either. I’m not sure I would switch from laying down to in cartons after maybe day 15 or 16.

 

[MiddleAmerican]

Ended up with 13/22 that hatched. One chick failed to thrive, and quickly passed. We have 12 healthy, happy chicks in the brooder! This is a batch of random barnyard crosses that I hatched for a friend. I’m currently gathering a clutch from my purebred Dominiques, to hatch for myself.

 

[pinewoodacres]

Here’s a cut down carton from last year. You could cut it more than I did even, I think my hand was just getting tired since this was my big hatch last year, but they were fine. I believe this carton had the taller parts in the middle so I cut those off. I have used the styrofoam ones also, those have less of that so I didn’t cut them as much. But I used them from start to finish before I had an egg turner. I would just put a small book under one end and switch it several times a day.

 

[BeanNoot316]

This is our first time incubating eggs! Hatch day is March 18th. I will say that this is hard for an impatient person lol! Only incubating 6 eggs and so far all eggs are looking good when we candle them. Excited to see what we get. We had two roosters at the time we collected the eggs so it could be either a buff Orpington or black australorp rooster and the hens I grabbed the eggs from are buff Orpington and barred rocks.

 

[BeanNoot316]

My two that pipped yesterday finally hatched around 4 this morning! And then #3 popped out around 730am. Most of the rest are pipped!
View attachment 3421318

I’m new to incubating and was wondering what pipping is. Keep reading this in the posts.

 

[pinewoodacres]

I’m new to incubating and was wondering what pipping is. Keep reading this in the posts.

Pipping is that first hole they make in the shell (there’s an internal pip also but when we are mentioning it here, it is that external one we see). They take a rest after that, then go back to that pip and start zipping, if you see my pic above, they go in a line around the shell and rotate as they go to “zip” it open and come out. The zipping generally doesn’t take long, an hour at most in my experience, unless they get into trouble (humidity too low and they get stuck to the membrane, for example). Pipping can be 24 hours from when we see it to when they hatch. It just depends on the chick.

Also on the very edge of that same pic of mine, the bottom right you can see a pip in that egg. It doesn’t look like a hole at first, just like a little peck from the inside that cracked the shell.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

Two more babies!

 

[BeanNoot316]

Pipping is that first hole they make in the shell (there’s an internal pip also but when we are mentioning it here, it is that external one we see). They take a rest after that, then go back to that pip and start zipping, if you see my pic above, they go in a line around the shell and rotate as they go to “zip” it open and come out. The zipping generally doesn’t take long, an hour at most in my experience, unless they get into trouble (humidity too low and they get stuck to the membrane, for example). Pipping can be 24 hours from when we see it to when they hatch. It just depends on the chick.

Also on the very edge of that same pic of mine, the bottom right you can see a pip in that egg. It doesn’t look like a hole at first, just like a little peck from the inside that cracked the shell.

Thanks a lot for the great explanation. I really appreciate it. I can’t wait. Mag keep the kids home from school to watch when they finally start pipping and zipping! Lol

 

[gimmie birdies]

If you are going to use the carton method, you should take a hole punch to the whole cup, and not just the bottom. The need even more air.

 

[Kaela23]

I'm collecting eggs for a March hatch... probably for March 4th.

Today is March 4 th - any good fortune?