Early hatchling

ChapinChicks

Hatching
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One chicken hatched at day 19 and one in 20. A few others are trying — three pipping. We need to pull the first guy out tomorrow (his third day). What do we do to make sure we don’t mess up any others that might be trying to hatch. The first two are fluffy and strong, but may have killed one trying to hatch already by rolling it. Help!!
 
Oops, this is a bit late, but in case it happens again:
The main thing is to not keep the incubator open for very long. Depending on the style of incubator, sometimes it helps to have one person hold the lid open while another grabs chicks.

I would do a set of steps something like this:
--Have the brooder ready
--Sit a box or something next to the incubator
--Look through the window of the incubator and decide which chicks to take out ("all" is often the right number)
--Open the incubator, quickly (and gently) grab the chicks, sit them in the box
--Close the incubator
--Optional: look at/cuddle the chicks briefly
--Carry the box of chicks to the brooder, and put them in. Make sure any that are still wet get put under the heat lamp to finish drying off.
--Watch the chicks for a while, and then continue to check on them frequently (mostly because that's the fun thing to do!)


One way to keep the chicks from stumbling around so much and squishing the other eggs/chicks: put a towel over the window of the incubator so it's dark in there.
 

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