Putting eggs in egg cartons to hatch???

[cackleberrylinda]

I am just not getting it. Thick headed? Maybe... but why put the eggs upright to hatch them? When a hen sits on her eggs she has them laying on her side. I have 10 banty eggs that I value a lot going in the bator soon and I am concerned about this. What is the purpose of the eggs being on end? Man, this is so not good for my blood pressure.

 

[txmel]

i think the reason is to help keep the eggs from getting moved around by some of the chicks that have hatched already, and have also read about it giving the hatchlings something to push off from when they are "poping the top" of the egg after zipping. not 100% sure if that is the reason but hopefully someone will come and correct me if i'm nowhere close

 

[Denninmi]

I've got over 80 quail eggs in my Brinsea right now, and I am going to put them back into the cartons to hatch. Tonight is "lockdown."

I haven't done this before, but it sure seems to make sense, since I've noticed how hard the hatchlings are on the unhatched eggs, the poor things get pushed around like billiard balls.

When you put them in the cartons, do you set them straight up and down or at an angle? It seems to me that straight up and down would be very hard for the chicks to emerge, since they would be fighting gravity and be in an unnatural position.

Unless someone suggests otherwise, tonight I'm planning on putting them into the cartons at as close to the natural, horizontal angle I can.

 

[FenDruadin]

I love hatching in cartons. It's not natural, but there's nothing natural about artificial incubation.

Under a hen, the eggs would be held in place and not knocked all over the place by the other eggs. They would be cushioned by straw and the down the mother lines the nest with. And they would be pushing out on the top against the pressure of other eggs and their mother's weight.

Hatching upright in cartons, although it's not intuitive, gets the eggs closer to that condition--it prevents them being knocked around, it keeps them relatively cushioned, and it gives them gravity to push against while hatching. I have noticed that it takes them considerably longer to get out of the egg once the top is zipped, but that once they do get out, they are much stronger and more coordinated than babies that pop out on their sides. This is a good thing to my way of thinking.

So yeah, I know it doesn't make sense at first glance. But it really does have its advantages, and it's the only way I hatch now.

 

[cackleberrylinda]

Okay, I guess I will do the upright in the egg carton hatching. You guys are far ahead of me on experience with incubating the wee bairns. .. And now, I have some call ducks in the bator on the day before hatching, but I am pretty sure no one is alive in there. No pippings and really, I feel like I blew it many times. So, next time I buy live duckles. Sigh. But nice experiment. I really am bummed but I am trying to be okay with it.
And to make me feel better, I hope, I have a dozen Black Ameracauna and 10 Lavender Cochin Banty eggs ready to start as soon as I stabilize the temp in my new / newish / new to me Hovabator. I hope this is a good one. Here's to a Broody hen next spring. This is my last shot at increasing my chicks this year.

 

[grammy of David]

I hate hatching in cartons....try it and it was awful....my eggs are guineas, maybe that was the difference!