Fan during hatching - is it dangerous?

discodannio

In the Brooder
8 Years
Feb 19, 2011
14
0
22
So, I rigged up a fan in my hovabator this last hatching attempt (my second) and things are going swimmingly. 27 of 40 eggs made it to lockdown (yesterday), and of those about 5 or 6 were infertile - so just a couple blood rings and a couple quitters. Not bad, seeing my first hatch was a whopping 0%.

Here's my concern though - I think that my fan might be hanging too low and might provide a hazard for rambunctious chicks who get too close. It's a modified computer fan, so it doesn't have any protective cage, and it's kind of hanging a little lower than most fans would (I think).

Is there a likelihood that this could turn deadly for the chicks? If so, what should I do? I'm guessing I could:

1) open the incubator during lockdown - although I'm not sure what I could do to change things.
2) turn the fan off during hatching
3) watch the chicks anxiously and remove them one at a time as soon as I can.

I know that none of these ideas are preferable. Should I just wait until the eggs hatch to see if it's even going to be a problem. I just remember that chicks kind of heave and bounce when they first get going, and I don't want any decaps!

Thanks,

DD

PS - ETA for the chicks is Wednesday evening.
 
computer fans generally don't have a lot of power, if you were to stick your finger in one it would stop the fan from turning, rather than cutting your finger like big fans do (especially older ones) so it doesn't seem like a really big concern to me. Unless you have it on super power rather than pc power, not sure how that would work. I guess you could test this theory with your specific computer fan if you wanted to be more sure.

If nothing has pipped yet you could just rig up a hardware cloth guard over the fan right quick.
 
but mine is kind of hanging precariously (I was only able to screw one side of the fan into the top of the incubator - I know, I'm an idiot... although it seems to have worked!), and it hangs quite low - like, definitely just a half inch or so above the top of the eggs. That scares me, but I honestly didn't even think about it until yesterday (Day 19-20 - IDIOT!)

DD

PS - I have 4 pips!
 
I CAN unplug it - but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to stop the air circulation at this point? If it's ok to do that, then I can just unplug it, yep.

DD
 
at this close to hatch, I would not mess with the temp.. 99.5F is good to go..

50 years ago everybody used 99.5F in all bators,, the eggs still hatched.. I do not know when this theory of 101F started..

I know all the arguments about stratisfied layers of heat etc..
I cannot buy into that concept either.. especially in a confined area of 7 inches high.. It would take laboratory conditions to stratisfy air like that..
 

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