Day 23 incubator smells!

[weirdones]

We originally started with 18 eggs. After candling we had 17. Day 21. Two chicks hatched. Day 22. Six more hatched.
Now day 23 still have 2 piping. Still hopeful for the rest. Did have power outage on day 14 for a few hours. But after 3 days of hatching the bator smells. I have removed the big shells but the water in it smells. Only way to change is to take everything out to dump it. Is it ok to just leave it stinky. Don't want to lose any by taking them out to change the water.

 

[WalnutHill]

That is one of the reasons nearly everyone shuts down about two days after hatching starts. There is only one way to clean it, and that is to clean it right.

I'd suggest getting the hatched chicks out to a brooder if you haven't already, and if you can wait until your two pips pop, set the rest of the eggs on a towel in a ziplock bag in a box in the brooder. Then you will have time to clean out the incubator, and put the eggs back in if you feel they may still be viable. Leave the foam damp from a hot rinse when you set it back up and humidity will stabilize quickly.

 

[lazy gardener]

That's a tough call. I think that one of my previous hatches had issues with bacteria when I put in some moist paper towels to raise the humidity after a shrink wrapped chick. The later hatches dragged their hatch goo through the moist paper towels, creating a bacterial slurry. I lost one chick of that batch to peritonitis. I've since come to the personal opinion that leaving the wire bottom is a better hatching option than putting down the shelf liner, as I think it's less likely to harbor excess moisture and bacteria. (then again, it would be quick and easy to change out paper towels at this point in the hatch, effecting a quick tidy up! How quickly do you think you could empty the bator out and get it cleaned, and re-filled? If you choose to do that, and I'm not recommending it... that's gonna have to be your call based on what you see and smell... You could take the remaining eggs out, put them in a warm towel lined basket with a sponge, perhaps loosely wrap the pipped egglets in a moist paper towel, and set them under the brooder lamp while you tend to the mess in the bator.

 

[weirdones]

I have a plastic tub type incubator with plastic mesh flooring and water valleys below. I wrapped them up in a ziplock and did a quick clean out. Only 5 minutes only because my little girl had to help. Back in in no time. The brooder is right next to the bator. 2 starting the break out now. Other 7 is questionable. I'll wait until tomorrow. Then I need the incubator to start coturnix quail eggs.

 

[weirdones]

Day 23 1/2. Another just started to break out. 6 other eggs with no visible signs of hatching. So I guess I wait for this guy and see if anymore pip. If nothing happens in 24 hours from the time it's out I'll take them out and clean out the bator for my coturnix quail run.