How do you arrange eggs going into lockdown?

Hey everyone,

I am wondering about how others place their eggs into their hatchers for lockdown?
Do you put them in an egg carton air sac up?
On their sides?
Leave them in the egg tray (i.e.: blue egg tray from sportsman 1502)


I have eggs going into lockdown tonight, and am pondering how I should set this batch to hatch?

Was thinking of keeping them upright in the egg tray, and place them in the hovabator hatcher.


What do you do?

I leave them in the egg tray most of the time and I have good hatches

I put mine fat end up in cartons. They are incubating fat end up in the Brinsea trays, so why mess with it? Once the infertile ones are removed I usually have 100% hatches.

Tsamis and I have always hatched eggs on their sides. They would go from the upright egg trays to on their side to being kicked all over the place and having less than 100% Hatch. Our best ever was 90%. Many that died in shell and such.

Last year I decided to place a few eggs in an egg carton and place it in the hatcher, and all those eggs hatched, from the rest there were a few that didn't make it out, fully developed and such.

I think I might try it this time.... Only the strongest survive right.

Getting eggcited!

Jonny always have the pointy end down so the air sack is up. When you say egg cartons I hope you are not using the paper cartons. Paper carton are are a no no more many reasons. Use the plastic cartons. The Styrofoam ones are not good either but better then the paper ones.

Sebas49 wrote:Jonny always have the pointy end down so the air sack is up. When you say egg cartons I hope you are not using the paper cartons. Paper carton are are a no no more many reasons. Use the plastic cartons. The Styrofoam ones are not good either but better then the paper ones.

Why are paper and styrofoam cartons no good?

I think I will leave them in the egg tray and put them in the hovabator hatcher like this.
The egg tray from the sportsman fits perfect inside the hovabator.


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a pic of the sussex eggs, that go on lock down this friday!

Rasilon wrote:

Sebas49 wrote:Jonny always have the pointy end down so the air sack is up. When you say egg cartons I hope you are not using the paper cartons. Paper carton are are a no no more many reasons. Use the plastic cartons. The Styrofoam ones are not good either but better then the paper ones.

Why are paper and styrofoam cartons no good?

I am guessing hygienics. I use foam so I can cut them to shape more easily than plastic but discard them when too dirty. You can maintain cleanliness on plastic the best.

Sebas, why did you say that? I need to know.

Now I am wondering about wondering about wondering about hatching. I used to lay the eggs flat, as the trays were designed for in my sportsman. Have an old sportsman that has trays designed for goose and emu eggs. No option to stand the eggs up, like in the trays for the other models of sportsmans. But....I thought that it was easier for the first 18 days to incubate the eggs in egg cartons, rather than strapping the eggs in laying on their sides. Just made easier. But I use carboard egg trays. Now wondering that is not good.

I got to wondering why you said that Sebas. And I came up with a thought. With incubating the eggs in a cardboard egg carton, I wonder if the humidity is being sucked from the inside of the egg into the cardboard egg carton. I wonder if I need to get those eggs out of the cardboard egg carton. Not sure what I would do with them. Maybe just lay flat like I used to hatch. Now wondering if that may be a reason why my hatches have not been as good as they used to be. Darn. I wonder too much about wondering about stuff. I know that.

Hmmmmm...I need to candle a whack of eggs today, and I think I am going to take them out of the cardboard egg cartons and lay them flat in the tray, just like I used to.

Jonny. Your question I will address. When the eggs go to the bottom of the incubator, I lay them on their side. Just like how the eggs are hatched below the belly of a hen. And I don't think the other chicks treating the eggs like soccer balls makes any difference in the hatching. The beak of the chick by that time is already into the air sac and most of the liquid is gone that was inside the egg, isn't it? Maybe I am wrong, but I don't think so. Comments.... Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Mine get laid on their side in the hatching tray.

You folks answered your own questions. Yes, the one reasons is the hygiene. Paper cartoons can collect tons of germs and keep them nice place to grow in the incubator. The other reason they suck the moisture out of the egg and the chicks will have a hard time hatching and will reduce the size of the chick.

You can lay them flat but they should be turned or rotated 180 degrees twice a day minimum. If you lay them flat mark an "X" on one side and an "0" on the other side. So by turning them over you can keep track. I find that laying them flat I didn't get a s good a hatch unless I turn them completely 180 each time. I'm not saying that I'm right but I know from experiences what works for me. I've had the Styrofoam type, Rollex, Sportsman and the Brinsea. They all work well but some take more care then others. Example the Styrofoam type needs complete clean out, I mean bleach cleaning, after each hatch or your hatch will get less and less each time if you don't them. Styrofoam type get full of bacteria. The others also need to be cleaned after each hatch if possible if you use them for hatching. The cleaning on the others can be a good spray down with Vircon or bleach.

I keep mine flat and lay them in groupings in Strawberry containers, just the plastic ones that snap shut. That keeps them in breed order (if I know) as well as prevents the kicking and flailing and smashing of eggs.

Sweetened wrote:I keep mine flat and lay them in groupings in Strawberry containers, just the plastic ones that snap shut. That keeps them in breed order (if I know) as well as prevents the kicking and flailing and smashing of eggs.

Hijack alert! Those plasic containers are great for seedlings too- I use the big lettuce ones. They are like a mini greenhouse.