I love watching them hatch but GOOD GRIEF hatching stinks!

[Katy]

There is an odor when they're hatching, but if it's stinking badly I wonder if you're getting it clean in the first place.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Mine doesn't smell at all. Just some sort of "warm humid" smell but not nothing nasty. Maybe spray a little bleach water on the bator after this next hatch.

 

[BirdBoy88]

I'm not saying as soon as the chick hatches i run for cover cuz the smell.. what i ment was like an hour after it hatches and some of the sac stuff is on the wire..by it sittin there getting hot from the bator it starts to smell..and my first hatch i had 2 chicks and 7 ducks hatch at the same time in the same bator so yea

lol

 

[BirdBoy88]

Quote:

 

[BirdBoy88]

^^^^ why did i just do that? lol

 

[Mycookoonest]

Maybe because I have a super sensitive pregnant nose, but when they first hatch... no problem, by the end of the hatch WOW! But my hatches go a couple days... I think it's from the goop getting into the water on the bottom and festering at 100 degrees if you know what I mean!

The first hatch I did was with a brand new bator so I don't think it's from not being clean, but I washed it out several times with antibacterial dawn... I was leary of using bleach, I used bleach to clean the area that the bator was cleaned in though.

Oh well... I'm bracing myself for another stink fest in a few days! Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade that in for anything because that stink means MY BABIES ARE HATCHING!

I guess it is a smell only a mother could love/tolerate LOL!

Oh and my bator is in the living room... and because I have to put my ear right to the bator to hear if anyone is peeping I get the whiffs!

 

[MissPrissy]

You really need to sterilize and disinfect your bator after this hatch. Dawn antibacterial is not enough. If you have a stink in there you have bacteria in there and it could cause your later chicks to be deformed or not to develop or hatch at all if you don't stop its growth. You could even get chicks that appear swolen or water logged - soggy chick syndrome - the area of the navel where the yolk abosorbs will carry an infection that just eats right into the poor little babies. You can't save them when that happens.

Here is a link to my thread on cleaning your incubator.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=62755

I take mine completely apart and clean them top to bottom after every hatch.

I know you are pg and you need to be careful with bleach fumes but it is the quickest, easiest method to clean your bator.

Then set it in the hot sun for several hours. The sun does a good job of airing out the chlorine bleach smell and killing any bacteria the bleach could not erredicate.

Good luck with your hatch.

 

[Mycookoonest]

Should I remove them and clean it again?

 

[MissPrissy]

What day are you on? If you are further than a week along if there is any bacteria that will affect the chicks it is too late to prevent it.

You could take them out and wrap them in a towel.

In 10 min or less wash the bator good. Rinse with a bleach dilution and then rinse again. Make sure there is no smell of bleach. Work fast.

Pop the eggs back in. At least the bator won't stink.

 

[Mycookoonest]

Miss P... I have an incubator for regular incubation, then move them into a hatcher... I just put them into the hatching incubator last night...