Hatching Questions

[rwwjsw]

I am on lock down had one hatch yesterday and one hatched this morning how long can they stay in the hatcher before I need to get them out and once they start to hatch about how many days should I let them hatch before I decide all that is going to hatch has hatched

 

[deerman]

leave in 24 hours, they can go 3 days without food or water , but best to get them drinking sooner. most after 3 days of due date will not hatch,if a rare one did, would be weak and most would die.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They can go 3 days or even more without food or water. That is so Mama can complete a hatch and it enables them to be shipped by mail. After they are dried off, the sooner you can take them out the better, but it won't hurt anything for them to be in the incubator/hatcher for three days. Most eggs should hatch within a day of each other if they have been in the same incubator together if you have a forced air incubator that is working correctly and keeping the temperatures the same throughout the incubator. If you have a still air, the hatch times can be spreadout a bit more because the temperature can vary more within the incubator. I have a forced air and if I go more than 18 hours without any new activity such as pipping or zipping, I consider the hatch over. I don't use a still air so have no experience with that type.

Some people take the chicks out as they dry off. I consider that risky since if the humidity drops too much you can shrink wrap your unhatched chicks, but that is their business if they want to do that. Some that do that mist the eggs or take the chicks out in a bathroom with the hot shower running to get it all steamy and misty or take some other precautions.

Congratulations on your hatch so far and good luck with the rest.

 

[rwwjsw]

OK thanks it will be three days today sence I went into lockdown the first chick will be 24 hours today but the other will not be 24 until tomorrow morning I hope I get more to hatch I have only 2 out of 16 I also saw you should not move them as long as they look wet is this true, the one hatched yesterday still looks wet. Well I think I am going to be about done I had my humidity up with about 55% all through inc but when I moved to the hatcher our humidity dropped and the best I can get in it is 37% I have 2 spunges in it and the water compartments full i also taped off 1/2 the holes to try and keep the humidity in. But it is not working I need to figure this out I have 40 more eggs cominging out over the next 2 weeks I do have a forced air inc and hatcher they both are LG help really good temp around 99.5 to 100.5 max through out the hole hatch. How can you hear them pep with the fan on my bator I cannot hear anything but the 2 hatched. I can use all the help I can get for the next load.
Thanks

 

[Ridgerunner]

Once they start to hatch, the humidity in the hatcher goes up. The moisture from the chicks drying off is part of the cause as well as the moisture inside the egg being released when the chick pushes it open. If it is too high, a chick may never dry off. If a chick has been hatched for 12 hours or so, it will not hurt a wet chick to go into a brooder that is the right temperature. Just get it in the warm brooder under the lamp pretty quickly and without a lot of wind blowing on it to chill it. You'd be surprised how tough they usually are. They look so delicate.

A difference in incubation temperatures can cause the chicks to develop much faster or slower than the norm. That's why I keep mentioning the difference of the forced air versus the still air. They are different. I also saw a Unuiversity of Virginia paper that said the difference in hatch times can be partly genetic. Some lines or strains of chickens hatch earlier than others. I'm just mentioning that to show why eggs that have been incubated exactly the same may hatch earlier or later. It is not an exact science.

If you are seeing pipping or any other fresh activity in there, you may be OK, especially if it is a still air incubator. But if it is a forced air iincubator, I'd start to be a little concerned. I would not give up hope yet, just prepare for the possible worst. I'd suggest when your hatch is over, you open the unhatched eggs and try to determine why they did not hatch. These articles may help you determine what you maybe can do better next time. Your first time can definitely be a learning experience. If you learn from it, your next hatch will probably go a lot better.

Mississippi State Incubation Troubleshooting
http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/troubleshooting_incubation.pdf

Florida Incubation Troubleshooting
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa204

Good luck on the remainder of your hatch.

 

[rwwjsw]

Hay thanks for the info I will be doing a lot of reading tonight I have about 30 guinea eggs coming up this weekend and then I am going to start quail so I am planning on working those incub. guess by the time I get done with all of this by next year I should be pretty good at it I hope.