Sportsman cabinet hatching suggestions to keep chicks in tray?

[SIMZ]

It's hatching day again!

This time I WAS NOT opening the door until the hatch was over......... no matter what! I ended up opening it after two wet chicks flipped over the edge of the tray.
The instructions say not to use the cover for chickens, but does anyone have suggestions on how to keep the chicks in the tray? The last hatch had a chick trapped under the tray and several on the edges.

Or maybe it's not a problem that they are all trapped on the edges? Does this happen to anyone else?

Thanks!

 

[dbcooper02]

My first big hatch in my Sportsman hatcher I had 5 trays of carefully marked chicks bail out and mingle on the floor of the incubator. What a mess that was. You can go into my profile and look at my embedded photos and you will find the hardware cloth fences I devised to use in use in my Sportsman hatcher to keep the chicks in the trays. Pretty simple and effective.

 

[SIMZ]

Hey -- I found your story a few weeks ago! I read about your mixed up chicks and just groaned for you --- UGH.

We made the little "gates" like you did, but they didn't allow the turners to work properly. There doesn't seem to be much clearance between our bottom hatching tray and the turning trays above. It seemed like a perfect idea - thank you!! - but it sounds like you're using a hatcher and ours still has eggs turning in trays above.

I also tried using the "gates" as covers at the end of the tray. That seemed to work until one of them worked it lose and got its head stuck. (Once again the door has to open. LOL)

Someone wrote that they use a large piece of foil at the back end. Then they pull the front end right up to the door so they can't flip over the front. It seems that the foil will still allow the turners to work and might just work. We'll see..........next hatch scheduled for Thursday. lol