First Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon- Join us! Set Day: Easter

[yinepu]

Advice please...

I am borrowing a brinsea octagon 20 eco, it has 21 eggs in it... so far 6 poults have hatched and it's starting to look crowded, when is it safe to move them to the brooder? This is my first time using it & only second time incubating, last time i used a homemade one and it wasn't nearly this exciting

There were 4 in it when I went outside and 6 when I came back, they're like popcorn

go ahead and open it.. pull the chicks and put a wet sponge or something in there to get the humidity back up

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THAT IS TURKEY SIZE !!

Advice please...

I am borrowing a brinsea octagon 20 eco, it has 21 eggs in it... so far 6 poults have hatched and it's starting to look crowded, when is it safe to move them to the brooder? This is my first time using it & only second time incubating, last time i used a homemade one and it wasn't nearly this exciting

There were 4 in it when I went outside and 6 when I came back, they're like popcorn

Umm, with CHICKENS, as soon as the chick is fluffed up and dry, I try to take them out of the incubator. I say "try" because if there are any pipped or zipping eggs, I don't open the incubator. Chicks can stay in it as long as 48 hours or so.

With that said, I understand the concern about space inside the thing as more and more hatch. If there are THAT many piling up inside, I close my eyes, do a very quick little incantation, then snatch out the fluffiest and driest chicks as quickly as I can.

So I am waiting for a turkey expert to respond. My turkey eggs are in two MiniAdvance EX incubators, with even less room inside than the Eco models!.

x2 I have a concern about enough oxygen. THeir need for oxygen increases when they hatch and run around. I also pull fluffed chicks out. If it's the closest, I don't worrry if it is not fluffed as the brooder is 95-100 for new chicks.

I recently had to rescue a chick. I missed that the sponges had run dry, bad me, and the chick did not progress after 24 hours, so I opened it enough to make the cap and let it push it's wasy out from there. I do think that pushing with their feet to hatch is important to their development and ability to walk well.

 

[debs_flock]

Okay, I'm home and thought I'd do some chick stuff before the novacaine wears off. I had an abcess on my gum and it turned out it was two broken roots from a molar. The molar, along with it's gold crown is now sitting in a plastic bag on the table. The space it vacated was the recepient of a bone graft and several sutures.

Anyway I had two more tutors hatch. Another DW and the other showgirl egg. Of course the chick that came out of that egg was a silkie, but cute just the same.

The turkeys are due tomorrow and the silkies were due today. I have some araucana still running a little slow from yesterday. I set 90 eggs, locked down 27. I currently have 8 chicks and about half of the rest are pipped so far.

I can't wait to get that little SG out!!!

Deb

 

[yinepu]

THAT IS TURKEY SIZE !!

well.. they think so.. i have had to go pry three out of a nest at the same time when they decide to play "stack a turkey"

and there can be empty nests right there next to them!... silly silly birds

 

[dsqard]

I have two out and two pipped. I had to help the second one a little because it had gotten stuck. Now I understand the problems with the fan drying out the chick too quickly if they rest too long after zipping. I snuck it out got the stuck shell off it, wiped it down with a warm moist paper towel and popped it back into the bator to dry with it's blue buddy. I have to say, I adore the blue color. Of course you couldn't tell that from the blue chickens I have, blue merle dogs and the blue roan horse could you? Chores are done now gotta get that homework done. UGH I want to watch turkey TV not do homework.

Oh I almost forgot. Had a bit of excitement today. I forgot to put the extra safety latch on one of the horse's gates today. Miss "kick the stalls and get into trouble" got the gate open. I realized this when I heard the dogs going bonkers. I went outside to figure out what was going on and three of my horses are happily munching the neighbor's backyard. Some days that youngster goes too far.

 

[yinepu]

I have two out and two pipped. I had to help the second one a little because it had gotten stuck. Now I understand the problems with the fan drying out the chick too quickly if they rest too long after zipping. I snuck it out got the stuck shell off it, wiped it down with a warm moist paper towel and popped it back into the bator to dry with it's blue buddy. I have to say, I adore the blue color. Of course you couldn't tell that from the blue chickens I have, blue merle dogs and the blue roan horse could you? Chores are done now gotta get that homework done. UGH I want to watch turkey TV not do homework.

Oh I almost forgot. Had a bit of excitement today. I forgot to put the extra safety latch on one of the horse's gates today. Miss "kick the stalls and get into trouble" got the gate open. I realized this when I heard the dogs going bonkers. I went outside to figure out what was going on and three of my horses are happily munching the neighbor's backyard. Some days that youngster goes too far.

lol.. silly horses.. I miss my big guys!.. all i have are the two minis now

yeah.. fans can be bad.. it's even worse when the chick is lazy.. makes a big pip then takes a break.. they can get stuck pretty quick.. it's one reason why I love my Reptipro.. I've never had a stuck chick in it .. and I open it a lot!..

 

[HappyAcresKY]

go ahead and open it.. pull the chicks and put a wet sponge or something in there to get the humidity back up

Quote:
None of them really look 'fluffed' up but there are 9 in there now (they've all hatched in the last 6 or so hours) I opened it and removed 9 of the broken eggs to make a little more space, I also added a wet cloth to get humidity back up... should I open the vent more to give them more oxygen or does that make it lose too much humidity? I'm trying to get my homemade hatcher heated up so I can transfer them to that so I can keep the humidity up initially for them, it didn't perform very well on it's initial hatching test so I didn't want to use it for this hatch but I didn't even think about using it as a short term brooder... hopefully it heats up quickly

I'm worried about the other eggs getting disoriented from all the chaos in there

 

[Arielle]

I have two out and two pipped. I had to help the second one a little because it had gotten stuck. Now I understand the problems with the fan drying out the chick too quickly if they rest too long after zipping. I snuck it out got the stuck shell off it, wiped it down with a warm moist paper towel and popped it back into the bator to dry with it's blue buddy. I have to say, I adore the blue color. Of course you couldn't tell that from the blue chickens I have, blue merle dogs and the blue roan horse could you? Chores are done now gotta get that homework done. UGH I want to watch turkey TV not do homework.

Oh I almost forgot. Had a bit of excitement today. I forgot to put the extra safety latch on one of the horse's gates today. Miss "kick the stalls and get into trouble" got the gate open. I realized this when I heard the dogs going bonkers. I went outside to figure out what was going on and three of my horses are happily munching the neighbor's backyard. Some days that youngster goes too far.

I have one of those. SHe can open almost any gate.

Quote: Once they are hatched humidity is no longer an issue.

Balancing oxygen and humidity--oxygen wins in my book. I will help a stuck chick if necessary. If gotten pretty good at it!!

 

[yinepu]

None of them really look 'fluffed' up but there are 9 in there now (they've all hatched in the last 6 or so hours) I opened it and removed 9 of the broken eggs to make a little more space, I also added a wet cloth to get humidity back up... should I open the vent more to give them more oxygen or does that make it lose too much humidity? I'm trying to get my homemade hatcher heated up so I can transfer them to that so I can keep the humidity up initially for them, it didn't perform very well on it's initial hatching test so I didn't want to use it for this hatch but I didn't even think about using it as a short term brooder... hopefully it heats up quickly

I'm worried about the other eggs getting disoriented from all the chaos in there

chicks don't normally "fluff up" a lot when the humidity is really high.. since the brooders are warm I pull freshly hatched chicks all the time from a bator..

the vent should always be OPEN during hatch.. otherwise the chicks can be weakened or even die from carbon dioxide poisoning

 

[yinepu]

I have one of those. SHe can open almost any gate.

Once they are hatched humidity is no longer an issue.

Balancing oxygen and humidity--oxygen wins in my book. I will help a stuck chick if necessary. If gotten pretty good at it!!

X2

I look at it this way.. a chick can get over being a little stuck.. they can't get over being dead from lack of oxygen

some times I wish the incubator manufacturers would leave the vents open and not supply plugs for bators since there is really no real need for them.. so many chicks die during lockdown because someone thought the vents needed to be closed... *sighs*