Add hatched chick to shipped chicks?

[danceswithronin]

So my Bielefelder chicks are hatching on the same day that my hatchery chicks are showing up in the mail. Out of my three hatching bieles, only one little cockerel has hatched all the way (a day early). Another has a dime-sized hole in the egg with its beak sticking out but has been that way since last night and seems in no rush to zip. It chirps and breathes fine though. The third egg has a pip, but has not broken through. I'm a little concerned about that one because the pip is in a slightly odd place, but I'm trying not to fool with it. I did ensure there's a hole allowing oxygen exchange into the air cell, but otherwise I'm hoping it's just hatching on time rather than early like this other chick.

I have my four hatchery chicks showing up later this morning too. My brooder is already set up with the brooder lamp on. The one hatched chick in the incubator looks mostly dry and disgruntled to be in there (the Brinsea Mini is pretty cramped). I'm afraid it might disturb the other hatching eggs as it clambers over them, or hurt itself on the hardware as it fumbles around.

Should I add that incubator chick to my hatchery chicks once they show up? It's very active and I think by the time the other chicks arrive it should be completely dry.

 

[debid]

There's no rush. Chicks aren't territorial so merging them is no big deal. They'll act like the new ones have always been there whether it's today, tomorrow, or the next.

Whether it's advisable to open the incubator at this point in the hatch is a different question. I don't know the answer to that.

 

[danceswithronin]

There's no rush. Chicks aren't territorial so merging them is no big deal. They'll act like the new ones have always been there whether it's today, tomorrow, or the next.

Whether it's advisable to open the incubator at this point in the hatch is a different question. I don't know the answer to that.

I am not terribly worried about humidity in the incubator (knock on wood) because I've read that this model has the capability to return humidity to homeostasis within five minutes, but I haven't tested the theory and I haven't measured humidity during the hatch, so it's kind of an unknown variable to me. Everything I read about this incubator said it was a "set it and forget it" type with automated settings for an optimal hatch (and it has reliably held temp at 99.5 within .2 degrees one way or the other the entire hatch, even after opening it to candle), so other than making sure the water reservoir for the humidifier was kept full and changing the day counter to 21, I didn't worry about it.

I did worry one chick (the one with just its beak protruding) was growing exhausted from trying to hatch upside-down, so I reached in real quick and righted the egg. The chick seems more active in the shell after that.

 

[chickens really]

Yes. Move it to the Brooder. It will be okay. I hang a mirror for all babies.

 

[danceswithronin]

Yes. Move it to the Brooder. It will be okay. I hang a mirror for all babies.

Very good, I should be picking up the hatchery chicks mid-morning sometime so when I go home to put them in the brooder I'll move the hatched chick out as well. Hopefully maybe even by then I'll have a second chick hatched, though I doubt it'll be ready to move yet.

 

[chickens really]

Very good, I should be picking up the hatchery chicks mid-morning sometime so when I go home to put them in the brooder I'll move the hatched chick out as well. Hopefully maybe even by then I'll have a second chick hatched, though I doubt it'll be ready to move yet.

They don't need to be totally dry but up on their feet.

 

[danceswithronin]

Alrighty, got my four chicks from the hatchery in the brooder and put the one bielefelder in with them. Everybody looks pretty good so far, though the lavender and blue Orpington chicks are impossible to tell apart (I guess it's good one of them is banded) and it looks like my Meyer Meal Maker turned out to be a Rhode Island Red, so that's awesome!