Help! chicks hatched before I took out egg turner.

[Celcampbell23]

I miscounted the days like an idiot and I have 3 babies hatched and more pipping but I had planned on taking the egg turner out today. Can I take it out now or will that ruin everything? It’s my first time and apparently I still need to learn to count

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Yes I would take them out of the turner. I would not risk the hatched chicks getting stuck in the turner. You should be fine if you work quickly but carefully. Good luck with the rest of your hatch!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

The day you set the eggs in the incubator is day 0 and after a full 24 hours of incubation is counted as day 1 and so forth.

Early hatchers could also mean you have a hot spot in the incubator or sometimes but not always smaller or bantam eggs can hatch a tad early too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've been there. Not that I counted wrong, they just hatched early. It is not always your counting at fault.

I don't know what your incubator or turner looks like or how hard it is to take it out. I elected to take the turner out when I was in your position. It is possible you can shrink wrap a chick by opening the incubator but that really doesn't happen that often. With mine I did not shrink wrap any that time.

The risk is that the membrane inside the eggshell will dry out enough to shrink around the chick so it can't hatch. With mine it takes a while to remove the eggs from the turner, remove the turner, top off the water in the reservoirs, clip the screen that goes in the bottom of the incubator in pace, and replace the eggs. They still did not shrink wrap when I did all that, as I said it doesn't happen that often. But another time I did shrink wrap an egg so I believe it can happen. To help minimize your risk you might put warm water in a spray bottle and lightly mist the eggs. Don't soak the eggs, you don't want to drown a chick that has pipped. Just a light mist. Some people fog up their bathroom and take the incubator in there to open it. With the humidity that high it's not likely to dry out.

I don't know what your turner looks like. The concern is that a leg, wing, of neck might get stuck in a sharp corner. The odds are if you just turn it off and leave it in there the chicks will not get stuck. There is a risk in whatever you do but I don't consider either a high risk. You'll probably be OK. But definitely turn it off.

 

[mcdze]

yeah i wouldnt have a huge operation like that, removing it and dumping cold air on pipped eggs .. just unplug it.