I want to take my 3 chicks out of the bator, still some eggs in.

[sloallie10]

Is it ok that I take out my 3 chicks of the bator when there are still two eggs in the bator? Im pretty sure one made a pip this morning but it hasnt done anything else all day. And the other egg has done nothing but yesterday it showed signs of movment. Will I shrink wrap the chicks if I take the chicks out when their is only one pip in the eggs? thanks

 

[Mahonri]

If it's been less than 24 hours since your first chicks hatched, leave them in the bator once it has passed 24-36 hours then you can quickly take them out and add any water you might need to keep the humidity above 65%. Whenever you take chicks out, you risk shrink wrapping the others.

 

[Smoky73]

I agree, you can leave your chicks in the incubator for a full 24hrs. Actually, I prefer to wait 24hrs at least as they get their bearings alot better than if you pull them too early.

 

[sloallie10]

Quote:
Ok and it is ok to leave them in for 72hours if you need too correct?

 

[cmom]

My eggs will come out of the incubator and go into the hatcher at 18/19 days. The hatcher is much easier to clean out after they hatch.

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

Quote:
Ok and it is ok to leave them in for 72hours if you need too correct?

Yes they are fine for that long. DH has had some slow ones that hatched right on the third day. Once the last ones were dry we took them out.
I wait at least 48 hours from first hatched before removing any, unless I see some still pipping.

 

[mandelyn]

What shrink wrapping does is take the membrane and pull it tight around the chick. It makes it hard to move around the egg, harder to hatch, and can also "stick" to the chick so that when they do hatch, they have patches of membrane stuck to them that dries and you can't get it off easy. So to avoid that, leave the first hatchlings as long as you can until the rest are done.

This doesn't happen if the remaining eggs haven't pipped yet. There needs to be a hole in the egg susceptible to changes in the air when you open the lid. But you know how they can pip on the underside of an egg, sometimes you can't see it.

But shrink wrapping can either prevent a chick from being able to hatch, or if it does hatch, to be covered in hardened goo.

 

[cherylcohen]

I read on another post that when you open the bator or any reason, before you close it back up put a sponge in soaked/squeezed in STEAMING hot water inside. It immediately raising the humidity. It may raise it too much and then just quickly take it out.

I've been using this technique in my last 5 hatches and I haven't had a shrink wrapped baby since