LOCKDOWN!
For those of you that are new, lockdown is when you close the incubator lid turn off the turner and DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EGGS! Its the 3 days of crazy up and down excitement and worry when your eggs start to hatch. Why do you do this? Well for a couple of reasons. You stop turning so the baby chicks can get into position in the egg. You don't open the incubator so the humidity ( turned up) stays stable and no one get stuck in he egg. Once an egg is pipped it relies on the humidity of the air outside it to keep it moist enough to not get stuck in the membranes while they are zipping and escaping the egg.
Once the chicks are out of the egg they will start peeping like mad and "fluff" out over several hours. The question that will be asked several times over the next few days is " should I take this chick out of the incubator?" The answer will depend on many things including how well your incubator holds humidity. If there are pips on the other eggs, leave the chick if you can. If there are no pips then its a different story. If you want more advice on individual chicks, ask, that's what a hatch a long is for!
Once your chicks are out you will be sticking them in a brooder where they will be nice and toasty. You need a heat source that will give your chicks around 95 degrees and a place they can be safe from drafts and get air ( don't want it tightly closed) and something on the bottom that can be changed and is stable for them to walk on ( paper towels, old pillow case, newspaper that is NOT slick) so you can remove poop once they start . Keep an eye out for wobbly feet and pasty butt in your new chicks those are the 2 most common problems. Also, remember baby birds LOVE to drown themselves, so its not a bad idea to put rocks or marbles in their waterer so they don't fall asleep IN it and drown.
If you have a single chick hatch with no friends, you might want to put in a small mirror for them to look in and a stuffed friend for them to cuddle with. Also might want to find a friend for them if you can. Check craigslist ( can also ask on cl sometimes people who do not intend to sell chicks will feel compassion for your lonely baby) your friends, and local feed stores.
I'm sure there will be a lot of advice from our vets thats better then what I'm giving, so keep an eye on the thread. Ill post this again tomorrow at noon when people start moving the eggs. But I thought I'd start now.
Tomorrow the roller coaster starts, is everyone ready???