Is it okay to hatch on pine shavings?

[Cetawin]

I used the shelf liner over my wire floor. It was easy to add water and the chicks had something solid but soft to lay on. Wash it in warm soapy water, rinse well, spray with a diluted bleach water let it sit for about 10 minutes then rinse thoroughly with warm water and let it air dry. Then put right on top of your wire floor when you remove the turner (if you are usign one) and go into lockdown...ie Day 18. Good luck. here is a pic of mine with a new baby.

 

[thespinningcottage]

Beautiful picture, Cetawin! If all goes well I should see something like that in a couple of days. Right now my shelf liner is drip-drying so when I come home this afternoon we'll go into "lockdown" (sounds funny to me because I'm a teacher and when we go into lockdown at school it's because something suspicious is going on in the neighborhood or on campus - not funny at all!). Thanks for all the additional advice. It seems more can go wrong than right, so I'm pretty nervous. I have 4 EE from blue eggs, 1 green egg sizzle/EE, 2 sizzles (tiny white eggs) and 2 black copper marans. On day 14 these 9 eggs candled beautifully. I want them all!!!!

 

[thespinningcottage]

Okay, they're "locked down." Egg turner is out, squeaky-clean shelf liner is in, filled all water troughs of the Little Giant, spaced the eggs all around, and plugged both holes. I'll watch the humidity carefully, it's at 68% right now and the temp is around 99.1. I can play with the holes a little bit if the humidity gets too high, right? Wish me luck, everyone!

 

[Tinabuglaw]

Do not use anything absorbent in the incubator. It will mess with humidity and if a zipping chick touches it the moisture may get sucked from the membrane leading to a stuck and eventually dead chick. Incubators have wire for a reason. It's the safest thing to hatch on and does not harm the chick.

Pine shavings give off volatile oils. That's what gives pine, cedar, and other soft wood shavings their smell. Even kiln dried pine shavings still have some oils but it's much less so in a space with ventilation it isn't noticeable to most people. The smaller the area and the more heat the more oils are released. In an incubator they could reach toxic levels.

Oh geez! I actually put wood shavings inside the incubator once one of the goslings was born because I noticed that it seemed the gosling was wedged between a couple goose eggs. So what should I do now? I know I'm not supposed to open it up and play around with the eggs, but what's safer, opening the incubator and taking the wood shavings out or leaving the shavings in order to keep the incubator closed?