Shrink wrapping happens with the lack of humidity. Has nothing to do with forced air incubators. I only use forced air. Still air can cause too many hot spots.OK quick question. I have read it is possible to cause chicks to shrink wrap when using a forced air incubator. So far all 6 eggs are doing great candled and all are viable. Should I turn my fan off at lockdown ( this coming Monday) or will that mess up the whole hatch. Temps and humidity has stayed perfect this whole time.
So to prevent shrink wrapping, make sure to get your humidity up at lock down. Somewhere around 65% or 70% is good. OPEN ALL VENTS. This is so important!! And do not turn off any fans. Chicks need huge amounts of oxygen at hatching time. This is a big mistake of newbies, with the lack of oxygen. Once the chicks start to pip (poke a hole thru the egg to breath) do NOT open the incubator lid. This is when shrink wrapping happens. If you open the lid, you are sucking out the moisture and this dries up the inner membrane making them stick to it. The chicks will pip and can stay like this for 24+ hours while they are busy absorbing the last of the yolk and detaching themselves from the egg shell. So don't panic when they pip and nothing else is happening for a while. LOL Too many people think they need to get in there and pry the baby out. This will kill the chick. It is doing what it needs to, breathing oxygen and when it is ready, it will zip out of the egg.
So on lock down day, open all vents, get all your humidity work, adding damp sponges if you need to keep the humidity up and done before any of the babies pip. Don't open the lid until they have all hatched, you can get the babies out when they are dry, and you shouldn't have any issues with shrink wrap.
Good luck with your hatch!!
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