HELP ?

[elainehughes]

Im new with this incubator.... my lil chicks just now hatched... what do I do? and others are trying to hatch... can I help them outta their shell? shew !! that was a fast 21 days!! I wasn't expecting them till Monday afternoon...
any reply is appreciated! :]]

 

[kkowa]

no just leave them in the bator until they all hatch don't help some of the blood vessels may not be dried up yet

 

[bugglesmommy]

As kkowa said, NO. Assisting a chick that is not ready t hatch will likely be a fatal mistake. The chicks first pip, then they finish absorbing the yolk sack and blood vessels which can often take in the neighborhood of 24 hours. I have had chicks take 30 hours before. If you try and "help" too soon, the baby will likely bleed to death. Read the link I will provide. It explains the hatching process and how and when to help if help is required as well as the consequences for untimely intervention.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching


Also you SHOULD NOT open the incubator to remove or play with the chicks that have already hatched. Opening the bator will cause the humidity to drop which can shrink wrap chicks, making it impossible for them to hatch. Chicks can live for 3 days on the yolk alone. They do not need food or water immediately. Do not worry about leaving them in.

 

[elainehughes]

thank you so much for the reply's.. you guys are the best !! . so far 4 has hatched and doing great. Im going to check out the website Bugglesmommy posted for me..... thanks again everyone!

 

[bugglesmommy]

Great!!!! Those first hatches can be so stressful!

Once you get some experience it becomes far less stressful. I became an instant addict. Took a number of hatches for me to just start going to bed and not obsess at hatch time.

 

[elainehughes]

the website you gave me is absolutely awesome... I appreciate it. and you're right, it is addicting, it is the coolest thing to have it hatch in your hands... I love it !! thank you again.

 

[bugglesmommy]

That link was a literal life saver when I first started hatching. I had 2 pip the wrong end I had to help out. I have saved a lot of chicks since then. When I first started I had no idea eggs didn't just hatch like in all of the cartoons. lol. I feel silly now. It has been a wonderful thing to be able to share with my daughter. Post some pics of the new fluffy butts!!

 

[yinepu]

As kkowa said, NO. Assisting a chick that is not ready t hatch will likely be a fatal mistake. The chicks first pip, then they finish absorbing the yolk sack and blood vessels which can often take in the neighborhood of 24 hours. I have had chicks take 30 hours before. If you try and "help" too soon, the baby will likely bleed to death. Read the link I will provide. It explains the hatching process and how and when to help if help is required as well as the consequences for untimely intervention.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching


Also you SHOULD NOT open the incubator to remove or play with the chicks that have already hatched. Opening the bator will cause the humidity to drop which can shrink wrap chicks, making it impossible for them to hatch. Chicks can live for 3 days on the yolk alone. They do not need food or water immediately. Do not worry about leaving them in.

I have to disagree with your last statement about shrinkwrapping..

I have never had a chick shrinkwrap from opening the incubator.. it's NOT about humidity that causes them to shrinkwrap.. it has more to do with fan placement in the incubator...

This year I have gone with 0 water added during incubation and 0 water added at hatch and have not had a single chick have issues with hatching.. going by the "shrinkwrap theory" I should have had chicks shrinkwrapping right and left because my humidity at hatch was so low.. plus I constantly open the incubators... now these are also homemade incubators with proper fan placement.. which makes all the difference in the world..

when a chick makes a large pip and sits there resting.. and the fan is blowing directly onto the pip it can cause shrinkwrapping regardless of how high the humidity is... Proof of that is when I had the Brinsea incubators.. I had humidity in one up to 85%+ at hatch (as registered on several properly calibrated hygrometers) and had several chicks with large pips shrinkwrap at the same time and had NOT opened the incubator.. the reason being the fan in the brinseas is located at the top blowing DOWN onto the chicks.. and every chick that made a large pip ended up with issues.. once I threw away those pieces of garbage and went with better made incubators I never had another issue of shrinkwrapping chicks...
funny thing is I never had an issue with shrinkwrapped chicks at all until I went from using homemade incubators to the Brinseas.. and I have been hatching out chicks every year (all year) for well over 50 years..

The incubators I am using now are coolerbators that my husband and I made.. they have a good half inch gap at the top (lid left open 1/2 inch) plus air holes drilled along the top and bottom... using them and no water at incubation or hatch
i have been getting 100% hatch rate on fertilized undamaged eggs with the chicks hatching with 0 issues.. I am also doing staggered hatches in each of the coolers and have had no problems at all with the current hatches or future ones that are still incubating.. I am hand turning.. so the incubators are getting opened for several minutes, 5x a day while I turn the incubating eggs (over 300 chicken eggs and 110 quail eggs incubating currently..). even with having them open for that long while I hand turn eggs the chicks that are pipped are still hatching just fine with no shrinkwrapping or sticky chicks..