So I was moving my 10 eggs into lockdown today and I noticed a pip on the 9th eggs so it was exposed to the air for maybe 2 mins. Then it took the hatcher 30 mins to stabilize after adding the eggs. I was doing a quick candle before moving them and thought "oh no I broke one" took me all of 3 secs to realize it was pretty good size pip. I never heard so much as a peep out of the incubator. I was gone most of yeasterday and most of this morning Christmas shopping. Lockdown was at 7pm, so they have been in the turner till 6:30pm. I quickly added the remaining 2 eggs and wrapped the pipped one in a wet warm towel. It has not done anything since. The bator is stable but I worry it got shrink wrapped in the transfer. Stupid Stupid mistake. This was my first pip on my own eggs after a really crappy hatch last week. I really wanted to get a couple chicks out of this hatch. Not because I wanted more chicks I just wanted not to kill anymore. I really hope I didn't mess up too bad. What are your thoughts? Do you have any tips for me?
I`ll pass on the best tip others gave me but the hardest to do. Just leave the lid of of incubator shut and let nature take its course in the artificial environment we create in an incubator Just to check that they are out of the turner now? Good luck with your hatch.
I would take the towel off now - it needs to breathe. You have to tread a careful line between keeping things wet and suffocating the chick. If you wet it down well, that's all you can do. Mom hens get off the nest during their "lockdown," so three minutes of air doesn't need to be fatal.
