Should I take the dividers out before they start hatching?

[Cara]

My eggs are pretty bunched up in my incubator (R-COM20), and i'm worried they won't have room to hatch. They are touching each other lengthways, and almost touching the dividers either side. Should I quickly remove the dividers now, or leave the incubator shut?

 

[Poison Ivy]

I've been wondering the same thing this time around. I've always used the chicken egg tray but this time I have chicken and button quail in at the same time. I'm using the universal tray for the first time and I'm not to happy with it as far as the button quail eggs go. They are so small they get turned end to end and don't get turned properly so I have to fix them. I think I will take the chicken eggs out and put them in a separate hatcher and then take some the dividers out for the button quail but leave a few in to keep them separated.

 

[Cara]

I don't know how closely packed your eggs are, but mine are very large and were touching end to end and the sides of the incubator. I decided to take them out last night before any started hatching, and my eggs started rolling all over the place with the chicks moving. There is much more space for them now, i'd recommend doing it. Have you had problems with the floor being slippery for the chicks? I had one hatch overnight and it's having a hard time standing up with the smooth floor. I think next time I will put a piece of shelf liner in when I turn off the turner and take the dividers out.

 

[Poison Ivy]

Last batch I had hatch I left the chicken egg tray in and they seemed ok in but they would fall over and land on their back in one of the little empty sections were the eggs go. They would struggle a little to up right themselves so this time I will lay a paper towel down under the eggs. I don't like the universal tray at all but that was the one that came with my r-com 20 and I had to buy the chicken one separate.

 

[megshenhut]

On the couple of hatches I've done, I put a couple of layers of cheesecloth down. That gives them good traction and is easy to depose of when you take them out of the bator.