hatch in progress, need advice

[Torghn]

This is my first hatch so I'm really a beginner. I have 56 eggs currently in the incubator, 2 of them hatched about 6 hours ago, none of the others have started to hatch. How long is a reasonable amount of time until I should star to worry that I'm going to have a 3% hatch rate.

The real time critical question is, one of the new hatches has moved into the middle of the incubator, his weight has pushed the wire mesh slightly into the water. Not very far but enough that his feathers have wicked the water up and now he's completely soaked. I'm sure he's not cold, but it looks like he's really tired and having a hard time moving with all the water and he keeps putting his head down, then popping back up when it hits the water. Should I risk opening the incubator to help him? Like I said I"m really a novice.

 

[Robo]

Give the unhatched ones some time, Do something to make sure they can't get wet because I am sure that can't be good. When mine did this they wouldn't get wet, but the dry ones would drink from it.

 

[jm93030]

do not help is very risky


Thats why I use eggcartons to hatch the eggs.
the eggs dont rock that much making the chicks job easy.

cut a eggcarton just leave 6 holes and put the egg in the cartons it may help

 

[Torghn]

Quote:
They were drinking earlier but his foot fell down in and over time got him entirely wet, he's wetter now then when he hatched and he seem to be struggling. I think I'm going to risk opening the incubator to fix this problem.

 

[jm93030]

here I use some type of cloth I buy at 99 cents store

I dont remeber the name
but is used to put inside kitchen drawers


I use it on top of the incubator wire this will prevent drinking

 

[JJMR794]

Open The Bator And Snatch Him And The Other 1 Out. It Wont Hurt Anything. Dont Throw The Incubator Open To The World And Stand There Staring In Starry eyed Amazement, Just Open It Far Enough To Slide Your Hand In And Quickly Snatch Your Lil Avian Aquanaut And His Accompliss.

 

[Robo]

I open the incubators to remove dry ones every few hours. Taking the lid off for a few seconds usually won't hurt a thing. Some people say they will get shrink wrapped, but honestly do you think opening the incubator that has 60% humidity inside of a bathroom with 45% humidity or more will hurt them? I usually turn on the shower for a minute or two if I am going to be working in there long.

 

[Torghn]

So I should remove him totally wet and put him under the heat lamp or just move him to a dry spot to dry first?

 

[Robo]

Put a small rag over the wire and leave him in if he is really wet.

 

[JJMR794]

I Would Just Cut To The Chase Take 'em Both Out, Gently Try To Dry The Scuba Diver A Tad(take A Kitchen Towel, Run It Thru The Clothes Dryer For 5 Minutes Or So, When Its Done Fetch Him And The Other 1 Out And Place The Wet 1 Inside The Warm Towel And Just Cuddle Him Up In It For 10-15 Minutes And Allow The Dry Towel To Wick Away The Excess Wetness, The Heat Lamp Will Finish The Job) Then Set Them Under A Heat Lamp In Nice Crisp, Clean, Toasty Warm Brooder