25 eggs..4 pips.. will they drown in the water?

[georgia531]

HI.. trying again to hatch some guineas... today day 26, i have 3 sponges and water pits are full... now i am scared that the babies will stick their beak through the wire and drown in all the water.. i still cant get up to 85% but i am hoping my hygrometers are wrong.. the probe one says 68% and the 2 on the floor read 72% and another one on the floor reads 85%... there is some condensation on the windows but not much.. im afraid to add more water, if the water comes to the wire can they drown in it? i added 2 sponges about an hour ago with hot water in them and have had 4 pips since. any last minute tips? any response is appreciated. thank you in advance.

 

[georgia531]

i have read on here so many times, that they pip and "pop"... my 4 pips arent doing that, in fact they are doing nothing... what should i expect? i need some encouragement... please.

 

[TarheelBirdy]

Cover the wire with shelf lining from the Dollar Store.

 

[georgia531]

i have some of that.. unfortunately i have 5 large pips now... plus eggs are in cartons.. no way to install at this point. great idea though.. i will do it next time for sure.

 

[georgia531]

2 are out

..lots more pips.. it is killing me to not take them out of the incubator.. i am going to bed so i dont open it.. still worried about the water.

 

[PeepsCA]

Congrats on your hatch in progress! Your humidity level sounds like it's fine to me, and especially if they are hatching already. The wet keets will bring it up a few notches too. I always aim for 75%-80%, but have found that anything above 65% is usually good enough. When you open it to remove fluffed and dried keets, you can lightly mist the remaining eggs if you are more comfy with 80%.

The keets really should be fine with the full troughs and not drown themselves, I have never had a keet drown in all my hatching experiences, and they do have a really strong natural reflex to pull back from water when you are TRYING to get them to take their first drink, so I think they should be ok.

The rubberized shelf liner works great and takes away all the stress of them drowning. I use it too, and usually wet it prior to putting it down on the wire, then I put eggs on top standing up in egg carton bottoms that I've misted/dampened first too. That all helps keet the humidity up.

Hope you wake up to an incubator full of fluffy peepin' keets!

PS...
The 2 first hatched keets will be noisy and stimulate the others to pip, zip and pop out, so I'd leave em in!

 

[georgia531]

Thank you Peeps, i was hoping to hear from you...you are the guinea queen in my book

i woke up to 7 and more pips but they arent fluffy.. i am dying to grab them out of there, but the hatch is in progress and that isnt an option right now.. the first pip hasnt made any progress, kinda worried about that one. i will be ready next time with the shelf paper thats for sure...

...thanks again.

 

[southern oaks]

Don't use shelf paper.... use the rubber shelf liner. It comes in a roll. and you can clean and reuse it. From what I have been taught the paper liner will be to hard for them to get a steady stand on and can cause leg damage. the rubber liner is about .99 cents and like i said you can split it and then clean and reuse it. cheapest and easiest thing i have found.. Just my opinion....

 

[georgia531]

oops i did mean the rubber bumpy stuff.. i already have it. just didnt think to put it in. im at 13 so far... one that pipped yesterday i helped. i had to. he was huge and i dont believe he would have hatched on his own.. he's pretty weak, but those perk up after a few hours usually... i am pretty much against helping, but at that final moment when you get the gut feeling its time, in my case it always is. now i have to keep checking them every two seconds.. i want them to be warm enough, and the temp climbing outside makes it hard to regulate... im about to switch the red bulb for a 100w. any advice is greatly appreciated. gotta say i'd rather hatch chicks not as much stress.

 

[PeepsCA]

13 new keets, wow Congrats!

How many more to go? What colors did you hatch? Is everybody pecking and starter crumbles at drinking water yet? You may need to dip their beaks if you haven't already. Where's the pics!?!? I have a small batch of 17 eggs I'm moving over to the hatcher this evening for lockdown, I need to go prep the hatcher and let it run all afternoon.

I usually leave my keets in the incubator until they are completely fluffed, dried and bulldozing around in there with strong legs and straight toes. The high humidity while they are getting their legs and feet working seems to help them gain their strength and coordination faster. It does take them a long time to dry (and I too check them every 2 seconds, lol), but I've found that it really it is better to leave them in there until they are moving around well (they can go 36 hours or a little longer without food and water because of the last of the yolk they absorbed just prior to hatching. Plus like I mentioned before, it stimulates the other eggs to hatch.

I usually use a 100 or 70 watt regular ol' incandescent bulb in my brooders depending on if it's too warm or not, my brooders are set up so I can't raise or lower the lamp, so I have to adjust the bulb wattage instead. Unless I hatch 100 at a time, or I have a huge amount of keets in my outdoor brooder, I don't ever bother with the expensive red heat lamp bulbs. If the keets are cold they will be really noisy and piled up, if they are too hot they will be panting and way spread out and noisy too, but its a sad little pathetic peeping sound, not the loud complaining peeping sound. I measure the temp on the floor under the glow of the lamp by laying a thermometer under it for a few minutes just to be sure the temp is ok. Keets need 95 degrees for the first week, just at one end of their brooder tho because they need to be able to get away from it of they get too hot. I usually keep the food and water close because they aren't smart enough to wander around looking for it, lol.

Keep us updated on the rest of the hatch...and WE WANNA SEE PICS!

Congrats again