Watch this video...this is how I got the idea...this person has had successful hatches in cartons. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/29888180I don't know what to do! I just cut up the styrofoam cartons and put them in but they don't seem very stable...like if one moves or once they hatch it's going to be a jumbled mess if chicks are climbing all over the others.
The first time you hear it (or see a rocking egg) you'll convince yourself that your eyes and ears are playing tricks on you. It's an exciting time, that's for sure.
It varies. The point of lockdown is to let the chicks wiggle around in their shell and get ready for hatching, if they are turned in that time, they will get confused and keep having to rotate themselves so that their beaks are facing up, that's how they hatch. So it's not "lockdown" that queues them to hatch, lockdown is just a human-aid so that we don't mess with the chicks' natural "ready" time. It's hard to wait, but you gotta. And you'll be able to hear them chirping without putting your ear up to it.
Well the build up of CO2 happens after their air cell is done providing oxygen. The build up of CO2 that causes them to hatch is all within the egg. They will pip the air cell to catch their first breaths, and once that runs out, they pip and get oxygen from the air inside the incubator. Then once they gather up all the energy they need, they zip and hatch. If the built up CO2 was in the incubator they wouldn't be able to breathe at all.
