Do you refill the incubator's water container after the chicks have begun to hatch?

[ohnoicantfly]

What does your incubator look like? How do you add water? Not all incubators are the same. That has never been a problem for me but I have a Hovabator 1588 with different water reservoirs in the bottom. I prepared for this possibility by cutting and taping some accordion straws together so I can bend it into a lot of shapes to reach each reservoir. I put water in the straw using a syringe I got at the feed store, one in the medical section. I go in through the vent hole in the cover of the incubator. I have no ides if that would work with yours.

I understand that there is a risk in shrink-wrapping a chick by opening the incubator at that time. I've done it so I do understand there is a risk. But it happens very seldom. If I have an emergency I will open it and take care of the problem but I don't blindly and blissfully open it just because I can. I personally don't believe in taking unnecessary risks but I will take necessary ones. Never having faced the situation you are talking about I'm not sure how I would react, but I have an alternative.


An egg does not have a full day's worth of development the instant it goes in the incubator or under a broody hen. It takes 24 hours for an egg to have a full day's worth of development so when you are counting you say "one" the day after you start the eggs. An easy way to check your counting is the day of the week you put them in is the day of the week the 21 days are up. If you start them on a Friday the 21 days are up on a Friday.

Not all eggs hatch on 21 days though. It is not unusual for eggs to hatch 2 days early or late, whether in an incubator or under a broody hen. That's why we increase the humidity after 18 days' worth of development. If they hatch early we want the humidity to be up by the time they pip. That's the goal, have the humidity up by the time they pip.

You don't have to be that precise in when you stop turning and raise the humidity. The eggs need to lose a certain amount of moisture so they can hatch. How much moisture? There is a wide window of what works. Many people count the days wrong and lock down after 17 days of development. That is usually not a problem. As long as the humidity goes up before they pip 19 or even 20 days is not usually a problem. It all depends on how much moisture the eggs lost though. There is a wide window but there are limits.


Don't worry about it. I understand your concern but you are overthinking this big time. When I go into lockdown I unplug the incubator and turner, move all of my eggs to a shoe box using a towel to soften where I set them down (usually 28 eggs), remove the turner, fill the water reservoirs, make sure the wire screen that goes on the bottom is in place and held down by the clips provided, candle the eggs and lay the eggs on the floor of the incubator as I candle them, put the top back on, and plug the incubator back in. There is no reason to be in such a hurry that you drop or bang an egg. Don't vigorously and violently shake the eggs, just be steady. You have enough time to do it safely. I don't even think about putting them down in the same orientation they were in. In my turner they are upright, when hatching they are laying down.

Thanks for the great advice! This really helps me worry less
I don't know the brand, as it was given to me by a relative, but this is what it looks like.

It's very dirty, as I haven't used it yet and haven't gotten around to cleaning it.
It also has a fan.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That looks like a vent hole in the middle of the top that you can open, but if you can't see inside it how could you hit a reservoir?

 

[ohnoicantfly]

That looks like a vent hole in the middle of the top that you can open, but if you can't see inside it how could you hit a reservoir?

I found two little holes in the water reservoir that show on the outside of the incubator. Could those be for filling it? Only one of the holes actually lines up with the reservoir, though.
There's a only a fan beneath the hole in the top of the incubator.

 

[affacat]

We learned this from a different thread but I'm going to put it in here just in case more eyes see it... We've been having good luck using hydrogen peroxide the entire time. It seems to keep the goop from completely stinking up everything. I suppose you should double check before you do this yourself but so far so good for us