ok, i'm new, so hi everyone! And I have, perhaps a silly question regarding my hatch. My first chick has hatched, fully out around 5:30 this morning, the second egg just started pipping (I hope I'm using the term correctly) Now I know that you are not supposed to lift the lid this close to hatching, but I also think you are supposed to take them out within 48 hours... so what if they haven't all hatched by then? Do I endanger the remaining eggs, or make the chicks wait a little longer. Or if they haven't hatched by then, should I just discard those eggs. Sorry if this is silly, I'm all excited and nervous about our first hatch
I haven't had much incubator experience but since no one had responded I thought I would at least give my opinion. I would think as soon as they are moving around you could put them under a heat lamp in a brooder type enclosure. I wouldn't really think opening the incubator for a very short period of time to remove the hatched and active chicks would hurt the eggs. A hen doesn't stay sitting nonstop before her eggs hatch. She'll still get water or take a dust bath. Sometimes for as long a 20 minutes. So opening the incubator for a very few minutes sure won't hurt. I would keep the unhatched eggs in the incubator untill you don't think they will hatch. A long drop, slightly in temperature can delay hatching by a couple of days from what I've read, but if some of them are hatching and you put the eggs in at the same time, they should hatch with in a couple of days of each other. Like I said not a lot of incubator experience but I hate for someone to post and have no replys.
Hi, I have never left them in there. I take them out when they're dry, and put them in a box with a heat lamp, 90 degrees under the lamp, and the lamp to one side. Anyway, I know you're not supposed to lift the lid the last 3 days plus the days it takes them all to hatch. If you want to get them out, be quick, and watch the humidity before and after you do. You can adjust it with some warm water on a paper towel. I guess that's the best I can say.
I take mine out as soon as they are mostly dry. They may not be fully fluffed out yet, but basically dry. I have a "fenced off" corner of the brooder and put them in that until they are fully dry and walking better. Then they go into the brooder and new ones into the corral. See pic below: [/img]