Can I remove hatched chick from incubator

[ChickenGirl555]

I’m kind of panicking because 1 out of my 4 eggs in the incubator has hatched, but the incubator isn’t very tall and the chick keeps knocking the eggs everywhere. I’ve heard not to take them out but I don’t see how it could hurt, although I’m asking to make sure there’s not something I’m overlooking that would make this hurt them. I’ll need a reply fast since it’ll take a bit to set up the brooder.

Please reply soon!

 

[chickens really]

Yes..Move it to the Brooder and then make sure all the others are with air cells up or pips up. I assume your hatching them on their sides.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

If the chick is dry and you have a properly-warmed brooder ready, you can take the chick out. The reason it's not encouraged during hatching is that when you open your incubator, it will lose moisture - when the humidity drops, the remaining chicks could be "shrinkwrapped" in their shells due to the loss of humidity. You can try to offset this by minimizing the time the incubator is open (carefully take chick out quickly) and adding moisture by spraying warm water from a spray bottle into the incubator (not directly on the eggs) or adding more warm water to the water wells to bring it back up to optimal levels. Good luck!

 

[chickens really]

If the chick is dry and you have a properly-warmed brooder ready, you can take the chick out. The reason it's not encouraged during hatching is that when you open your incubator, it will lose moisture - when the humidity drops, the remaining chicks could be "shrinkwrapped" in their shells due to the loss of humidity. You can try to offset this by minimizing the time the incubator is open (carefully take chick out quickly) and adding moisture by spraying warm water from a spray bottle into the incubator (not directly on the eggs) or adding more warm water to the water wells to bring it back up to optimal levels. Good luck!

Hello..I've hatched lots of eggs. It's a misconception that removing Chicks causes humidity loss to the remaining eggs. What causes loss is opening the incubator multiple times during lockdown to Candle..Quickly removing the hatched chick generally has no issues.

 

[fisher101]

I would leave it in for a few hours and see if it gets the rest to start to hatch

 

[ChickenGirl555]

I would leave it in for a few hours and see if it gets the rest to start to hatch

I WAS thinking about just putting in a divider...do you think this would work?

 

[fisher101]

I would just let it run but my bator has a turner so as soon as the day of lockdown i usually take it out and leave all chick in for atleast a hour or two so they can dry off and maybe help the others kick off in the hatching process

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Hello..I've hatched lots of eggs. It's a misconception that removing Chicks causes humidity loss to the remaining eggs. What causes loss is opening the incubator multiple times during lockdown to Candle..Quickly removing the hatched chick generally has no issues.

I've also hatched quite a few eggs, and I always try to minimize the loss of humidity, whether it be during candling or when opening the incubator to remove chicks. I don't think we're debating that loss of humidity - from whatever cause - should be avoided during the hatch. Depending on how many chicks are being removed, too (and in this case, it's just one), the incubator could be open for enough time to cause a significant reduction in humidity.

 

[chickens really]

I've also hatched quite a few eggs, and I always try to minimize the loss of humidity, whether it be during candling or when opening the incubator to remove chicks. I don't think we're debating that loss of humidity - from whatever cause - should be avoided during the hatch. Depending on how many chicks are being removed, too (and in this case, it's just one), the incubator could be open for enough time to cause a significant reduction in humidity.

I wasn't arguing at all, just chatting.....

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I wasn't arguing at all, just chatting.....

No worries. I remember when I was new to incubating and looking for "best practices"...and later realizing (with experience) that people can have successful hatches with fairly different approaches. And how many variables there are...