Hatching eggs, hear chirping. Normal?????

[Rebjilek]

I am also wondering if anyone uses a hamster water bottle for the chicks. How do you show them how to get the water?

 

[Rebjilek]

Ok, here is another question. (I'm kind of a worrier). I have 17 other eggs setting. Today is day 21. My first chick pipped yesterday around 8 pm. The chick hatched around 2 am. I don't have any other pips yet. Is this normal to have a chick hatch out that much earlier ?

 

[Rebjilek]

I have another pip. Whooohoooo. I know I've read other posts about how stressful hatch day is. I think my nervousness is from past hatches gone wrong. Since though I have joined this forum and learned tons about hatching and chickens in general. I'll keep posting on the progress.

 

[Gypsy07]

I use a hamster water bottle for my chicks. 'Cause they're so nosey and can't help pecking at anything and everything, usually they discover it all by themselves. If one finds it, you can rest assured the others will all know about it within 30 seconds. But if you're concerned, pick them up one by one and gently dab their beaks at it so they get a bit of water. Just once each will be enough.

I don't know how common or normal it is, but I've had early hatchers like you describe. or rather, right-on-time hatchers and everyone else lags a bit behind. Usually when the second chick pips that's when the serious hatching starts. I always tend to get one smartypants who just has to pop out before everyone else and then kick the other eggs around.

Did you candle your eggs? Do you know how many of the remaining 17 are fertile and fully developed?

 

[cmom]

Do you count the day you set the eggs as day 1? And if the temp has run a little low they can take a day or two longer to hatch. Some people I think count the day they set the eggs as day 1 but a lot of people start the next day. The day I set my egg is day 0. If you set them on a Tuesday then they should hatch on a Tuesday.

Example:

 

[Rebjilek]

Hi everyone! Well so far three other eggs have pipped, but not a lot of action yet. And yes my day early one is having lots of fun kicking the other eggs around.
When I set my eggs I count that as day 0 and the next day I start as one, so today is day 21.

And I did candle on day seven, fourteen and then right before I locked down. The eggs are green and dark brown so it was kind of hard to tell, but I think that they are all good viable eggs. The pipped eggs are rocking now and again, and occasionally I see a beak through the membrane. It's so hard waiting. I just want to hurry them out so I can stop stressing.

Also I hear a lot of chirping through the eggs.

So at this point, I just leave them alone, including the all ready hatched chick?????? I swear this is soooo hard to do.....just wait.

 

[cmom]

A lot of people leave the chicks in the incubator but I personally take them and their shell out as quick as I can but my incubator recovers pretty fast. I have a nice brooder warmed up and waiting for the chicks.
I have a brooder box the chicks go into until they are dry and then to a brooder cabinet after they have dried off.

 

[Rebjilek]

Ok...here goes my impatience again. The pipped eggs have pieces of the shell gone, but I can still see the white membrane underneath. I've seen some rocking and rolling, but not a lot. They haven't beaked through the membrane yet. Please say this is ok. I know I'm not supposed to open the incubator at all. My humidity seems good.

Am I just being a worrier?

Anybody..

 

[drumstick diva]

cmom I love your setup , looks like chicken condos (brooders).

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Yes, you are. LOL! Hatching causes humidity to rise a bit, so as long as you haven't opened the incubator at all, everything should be fine. If the humidity was good enough for the first one to hatch out, it should actually be a bit higher now, and the rest should follow soon enough. People vary with how long they like to leave their chicks in the incubator to fluff up and how quickly they want to get them out of there, and once you've got a bit of hatching experience you'll probably bend the 'rules' a bit yourself, but when you're just learning it's a good idea to do everything by the book, and that means leaving your hatched chick in there for the time being.

If it's already up and flopping around then it sounds like a good healthy chick, and if needs be it can go up to 72 hours before you have to feed and water it. Once you've got other eggs pipped you really don't want to be reaching in to take this one out in case you accidentally drop your humidity and cause problems for the other chicks. Now about those other ones... You might not be able to see it, but if they've pipped through the shell then they've definitely broken a tiny hole in the membrane. You can't see it, but it'll be there. They just need a tiny hole for air and once they've got it, they could well sit back for a rest and just lie in there dozing and absorbing their yolks for another day. So relax and just leave them to get on with it.

Oh, and congratulations on your first chick! Now get a photo up here for us to see, please