Sorry, long busy crazy day for me, I haven't had time to read many posts!
Keets should stay in the 'bator until they are fully fluffed and dried, and even over night is fine, they can survive on the last of the yolk they've absorbed prior to hatching for 48 hrs easily, without needing food or water (think about shipped say olds). I usually wait until there are several dried keets to take out at once before I open the 'bator, otherwise the lonely keet will be really noisy, and plus you don't want to let out all the humidity and risk harming the other eggs (shrink wrap). I never take any keets out until I see that their feet and legs are working well and they are good and strong, the extra humidity helps that along.
Temp, humidity and unhealthy breeding stock can all cause weak, un-hearty keets, plus a million other reason. It's difficult to narrow down an exact reason when there are so many variables. I never pip an egg, and I try not to help keets out... if a keet is too weak to hatch on it's own then more than likely it's not gonna be a healthy keet, nor healthy breeding stock down the road once it matures. If it's stuck from drying out then I will help by moistening the membrane with a wet q-tip or mister bottle, but that's about all I will do. I've seen too many helped keets fail to thrive and or have leg foot issues that can't be fixed. I know it's hard to watch keets struggle and not help them, but it's better to let nature take it's course in most cases.
Keets should stay in the 'bator until they are fully fluffed and dried, and even over night is fine, they can survive on the last of the yolk they've absorbed prior to hatching for 48 hrs easily, without needing food or water (think about shipped say olds). I usually wait until there are several dried keets to take out at once before I open the 'bator, otherwise the lonely keet will be really noisy, and plus you don't want to let out all the humidity and risk harming the other eggs (shrink wrap). I never take any keets out until I see that their feet and legs are working well and they are good and strong, the extra humidity helps that along.
Temp, humidity and unhealthy breeding stock can all cause weak, un-hearty keets, plus a million other reason. It's difficult to narrow down an exact reason when there are so many variables. I never pip an egg, and I try not to help keets out... if a keet is too weak to hatch on it's own then more than likely it's not gonna be a healthy keet, nor healthy breeding stock down the road once it matures. If it's stuck from drying out then I will help by moistening the membrane with a wet q-tip or mister bottle, but that's about all I will do. I've seen too many helped keets fail to thrive and or have leg foot issues that can't be fixed. I know it's hard to watch keets struggle and not help them, but it's better to let nature take it's course in most cases.
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