Can you hold a hatching egg out of lockdown?

[whatisthis]

Alright so to expand on my question, I've seen a YouTuber that goes by the name of "A Chick Called Albert" and he holds his eggs out of the incubator to hatch near him as seen in some videos. He has even had chicks hatching right out of the egg right on his hand! Is that safe? He seems like an expert and he does it so well. What about lockdown? Don't you need to keep eggs inside during lockdown for humidity and temperature and stuff? Please help me.

 

[whatisthis]

Here's his channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBjh-uGy5RcclATnFpQBobw thanks in advance!

 

[MysteryChicken]

There's no harm. I've watched his channel every once in awhile.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

I watch him! He is an expert so he knows what he's doing

 

[My2butterflies]

I’m sure it will depend greatly on the ambient temp/humidity of the room you are in. I could see people down south in the summer easily being able to keep eggs outside the incubator during hatch time.
If it’s hot and humid it’s really no different then if it was in the incubator.

 

[Sierra G]

I'll let you in on a little secret. While one reason for lockdown is to give the egg a stable hatching environment, it's primary purpose is to keep whoever is incubating the egg from messing with it too much.

You've observed that letting the egg hatch in one's hand does no harm to the chick if you know when it's ready to hatch. Stick to lockdown for your first hatch. But as you get more experience you can trust your judgment about how to approach individual eggs. If a chick is clearly not having any trouble you can let it hatch in your hand or even let it hatch in the brooder if you want to create more space in the incubator.

You'll see people telling you that 100F and 75% humidity are "optimal". But, even if that's true, your chicks don't need optimal conditions to hatch. You can get decent hatch rates with a still air incubator or a broody hen, and neither are high precision instruments, never mind optimal.

You'll also hear stories about shrink wrapped chicks, hatchlings bleeding to death, or other problems. You shouldn't ignore those possibilities. But the problems need to have certain conditions met to occur too. You're unlikely to shrink wrap every chick in the incubator if you open it to remove an egg. Similarly, if the chick pips in the wrong place and you enlarge the airhole he's less likely to bleed to death than he was to suffocate.

It's okay to break some of the rules sometimes. But first you need to learn what the rules are and why they exist. It's better if your learning is the result of research, planning, and forethought though instead of trial and error.

 

[cmom]

It's not something I would do but it appears he has it fine tuned. I have hatched out thousands of chicks over the years. Mostly successful. I have had a chick here or there that didn't thrive, but very few. It's not rocket science but conditions do play a roll. I have discovered over the years that I do have better hatches under certain conditions. It's not one size fit's all. Good luck and have fun...

 

[whatisthis]

Thanks so much for the comments!