Dead chick in incubator

[Mthead4]

The eggs in my incubator are hatching today, 9 so far, one fully hatched alive but now I'm sure it's dead, I think it was smothered by the other ones. Do I need to remove it? I have 4 more eggs to go, one of which that's pipped, so I really don't want to open the incubator, but also don't know if the dead one could start to rot and harm the healthy ones? First one hatched early this morning, so I have plenty of time before I'd open it normally.

 

[hysop]

If it’s for sure dead then yes remove it even if one has pipped. A quick open and close of the incubator will do less harm than a dead chick corpse in hot humid enclosed incubator.