Help! Chicks hatching early

[Jasori]

I woke up with 4 days left on my incubator and one of the chicks has already hatched! I haven't taken the egg turner out yet! Should I remove it now? Or just let it go so I don't get this chick chilled? I'm about to have to leave for work and won't be home for 8 hours. I don't know what to do!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I woke up with 4 days left on my incubator and one of the chicks has already hatched! I haven't taken the egg turner out yet! Should I remove it now? Or just let it go so I don't get this chick chilled?

I'd remove it! Won't hurt to be a day early for the others.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I woke up with 4 days left on my incubator and one of the chicks has already hatched! I haven't taken the egg turner out yet! Should I remove it now? Or just let it go so I don't get this chick chilled?

If you can quickly remove it, that would be best.
Get your brooder ready!

 

[Jasori]

I woke up with 4 days left on my incubator and one of the chicks has already hatched! I haven't taken the egg turner out yet! Should I remove it now? Or just let it go so I don't get this chick chilled? I'm about to have to leave for work and won't be home for 8 hours. I don't know what to do!

Ok, also should I go ahead and remove one of the red vent plugs to increase oxygen? And raise the humidity to like 60%? I assume so..? Today midday would have marked the 3 day countdown

 

[Jasori]

If you can quickly remove it, that would be best.
Get your brooder ready!

Will get it ready as soon as I get home! I got a brooder heater and will buy the pine shavings on my way home today! This is my first time hatching my own chicks so I'm open to any advice y'all have!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

So, is the chick still in the incubator WITH the egg turner going???

 

[Jasori]

So, is the chick still in the incubator WITH the egg turner going???

It was! It was sleeping in one of the empty egg holder places. I removed the egg turner quickly before I left and put the chick and the eggs back in the incubator and added water to the second water reservoir to up the humidity. I'm hoping I did the right thing!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Will get it ready as soon as I get home! I got a brooder heater and will buy the pine shavings on my way home today! This is my first time hatching my own chicks so I'm open to any advice y'all have!

You must be so excited!


Personally I recommend putting paper towels over the shavings or using puppy pads for the first week or so. Just until the chicks learn to know what food is so they don’t eat the shavings.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Personally I recommend putting paper towels over the shavings or using puppy pads for the first week or so. Just until the chicks learn to know what food is so they don’t eat the shavings.

Agree - NO wood shavings for the first several days. The chicks are learning to walk and need a flat, non-skid surface. I use paper towels over a newspaper base. Once they're getting around really well, I remove the paper towels and add wood shavings.