Thinking of Trying Egg Carton Method.... Sad evening

[kellim]

Hey. Well I had a chick peeping all night last night and it had stopped this morning. Well this evening I went to checked on the egg and since i had heard NOTHING since early this morning, I cranked up the heater in the bathroom, got it nice and warm and decided to put a tiny hole in the air cell. Well, I started chipping away a tiny bit of the shell and moistening it with one drop of water at a time. The membrane seemed very dry. it was very white and kind of felt like paper. Well after a while i cracked open the membrane because I felt something hard and I came upon my little chick. It had died in the shell. I must mention that this chick was quite large for the shell, i really have no clue how it fit in there. It had died apparantly because the shell was too dry.

Anyways, I have decided that I need to change hatching methods. I have been hatching in a deviled egg dish, one of the glass ones with like 12 little egg holders for the egg to lay on it's side and then an open center in the middle. Well I am wondering if perhaps that kept the proper amount of humidity from getting to my egg. I have heard a lot about the egg carton method and am seriously thinking of trying it. My humidity has been perfect the entire time, averaging between 50 and 55 % and was raised to 70 percent for the hatch.

So now I guess i can say I need to know everything anyone can tell me about carton hatching. What kind of egg carton, or does it matter and everything starting from there. Thanks so much...

 

[smith2]

It may not have anything to do with your hatching methods. Sometimes other things are wrong that we have no control over. I have tried to rescue several in the shells and they usually have some kind of other problem. The last one I tried to save has a twisted leg, and while it is living and hopping around on one leg. It makes me wonder if I should of just let nature take its course.

I hatch in syrofoam egg cartons with the small end down. Sometimes one gets turned upside down in the egg and I lose it also, kind of like a breech chick. I cut my egg cartons in half and put them in my incubator 3 days after I stop the turner. I adjust the humidity and wait.

 

[countrykidsx7]

I used paper cartons. I cut holes in the bottom of the cups for air circulation.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Quote:
So do I. It keeps the eggs from rolling around and I think gives the chicks a bit more leverage when zipping.

 

[robinaggie]

I just did my very first hatch, and I used the carton method I read about on BYC. I cut the bottoms out of styrofoam cartons, and used the top part as a frame to hold the eggs. It was amazing to watch the chicks pip and zip. If they had trouble pushing out, I laid them on their sides on a little towel and they pushed right out. I think this method is neat, but I doubt that it would have kept your chick from dying.

I tried to help a chick hatch today because it was so late and hadn't pipped. It was alive under the membrane, but died about two hours later without ever breaking through. When I opened the egg, the chick was upside down and had a misshaped head. It wasn't meant to be.

One last egg is still in the hatcher just sitting there. I'm not going to intervene.

 

[chickensandmore]

Look at my website and you will see what a the carton method looks like..It's all I use

Don in Spiro

 

[kellim]

Okieboy: Checked out your site, and it looks exactly like I thought I should do it. Thanks.

 

[goatkeepers]

Okieboy- nice website. Your humidity is quite hight though, isn't it? Do you usually hatch them with that humidity?

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Wow - great website! You're so organized!!

I'm on day 16 and this is my first time using the turner. There was one egg that was rocking a little this morning. Should I take the turner out today and turn by hand until day 18? Or wait until day 18, take the turner out, and put them in the egg cartons? How soon before they hatch do they start rocking?

 

[chickensandmore]

goatkeepers

Okieboy- nice website. Your humidity is quite hight though, isn't it? Do you usually hatch them with that humidity

Proof is in the hatcher

I am getting about on average between 80 and 85 percent hatch rate..this last hatch I had a 81.25 so I am happy with it..also they hatch late on the 20th day or early on the 21 day..
I posted my bator log so that the people I buy eggs from can see what is going on..
Glad you all liked it..
my bator is a homemade freez-a-bator an and my Hatcher is a homemade freez-a-hatcher
I have less than 50 dollars in each..they will hold about 180 eggs.




Don in Spiro

Oklahome love it or stay the heck out...​