First Incubation..chick wreaking havoc

[vron]

I had my first Silver Spangled hamburg chick hatch this morning about 6 AM, and it is playing kickball with the remaining 4. I have a little giant, forced air incubator, so it's a rather large surface area for such a small number of eggs. They are really getting knocked around and pushed from one side of the incubator to the other. The chick is pecking them where they are pipping from. I'm really worried it's going to kill the rest of the hatch. Is this normal or should I go ahead and move the chick to the brooder? It's been nearly 12 hours since it hatched, but I don't want to open it unnecessarily. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[TheKidAndDame]

Personally, I would go ahead and take the chick out.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I would take it out as well. Put it in your brooder...it'll do fine..

 

[vron]

Thanks for the advice, 1st chick in the brooder, one of the 2 sussex I have has hatched shortly after I posted.

That leaves the other sussex (pipped) and 2 more silver spangled hamburgs (one pipped and one moving around like crazy in the egg)

If they all hatch, that will be 5/8 eggs hatched, not bad for a first try i guess. The other 3 I lost in earlier stages, mostly blood rings as far as I could tell when candling.

Glad I found this forum, everyone here seems very knowledgable and extremely friendly from my various reads.

Thanks again for the advice, very exciting stuff this incubating!

 

[turtle1173]

The others are probably holding back waiting to see if the next game of kick egg will be starting again. Either that or they are still dizzy from the previous match.

Shane

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Vron...excellent hatch!! Congratulations!!

 

[kellim]

Congratulations!!!

 

[vron]

Thanks all for the encouraging words

The other Sussex chick is out and doing great...now it's a 2 vs. 2 match, Sussex vs. Hamburg and the Sussex team are steam rolling the Hamburgs, lol. Both Hamburg eggs are pipped, and i'm hoping to have 2 more chicks hatched by tomorrow if they don't get too roughed up. Will place both the Sussex in the brooder before work so the first Hamburg can have some friends to play with...going to be a sleepless night probably, heh.

 

[vron]

The other two hatched this morning before work, and all the chicks are doing great

Here's a picture of them.

 

[d_rooster]

Adorable chicks! I've had the same problem with very active hatchlings rolling around the rest of the eggs in the incubator. To keep eggs from being rolled around by the first hatchlings, I started cutting up the styrofoam egg cartons and making little egg holder pedestals. I cut in between the regular egg spaces in the carton and then invert the carton. The holes and the inverted carton allow for plenty of airflow around the eggs.

This works for small numbers of eggs and makes them pretty easy to turn quickly by hand by just flipping each egg (like a light switch) on the styrofoam without even picking them up.

Again, your new chicks are really cute. The best of luck with them.

~Donald in SC