1/20 hatched! Now what? Temperature worries...

[Butterprint]

The 8:30 am pip I got did nothing until right after dinner when it unzipped and hatched in less than 45 minutes! She's doing great, I think. We had to lay a rolled towel down on the side the grate had a gap on because the chick started to slip through for a moment. Was scary, but he's okay. We think the towel/hatching messed with the temp because it had been a happy 99.8 all day and spiked to 102 after the hatch and towel issue. We worked to bring it down, but it has spiked once again to 101.

My question is...how worried do I need to be about the HATCHED chick's temperature? Should we diligently work to keep it at 99.5-100.0?

And I know I've already read this is okay elsewhere, but I want more confirmation--this is our first hatch and they're shipped eggs to we're nervous, lots of variables--is it okay for hatched chick to hang out in incubator until his friends are done hatching? Like, if he bumps into them a little, no big deal right?

Thanks for helping a noob with questions you've all probably answered a million times already...

 

[br0nc0]

Well small spikes for short period of time shouldn't be much of a problem...

And the hatched chick won't do any harm to the other eggs. I read that a lot of people don't open the incubator until all of the eggs hatch and leave the chicks inside for that period (to keep the humidity up), I personally keep them inside until they are dry & fluffy and then take them out.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Many people wait until hatch is done to take out chicks. Hatched chicks do motivate the siblings. Others wait until they are fluffy and pull them. Some of us pull them once they become active in the incubator. The fluctuations aren't ideal, but as long as they aren't spiking over 102, you should be ok. I would make sure you have water in the brooder once you pull them though because the higher temps could dehydrate them faster.