Newbie - help

[jhoff]

Hi I have several questions. I have a Nurture Right 360 incubator. We are at day 1 / hatch day. Last night at about 3 am the first chick hatched and was quite noisy and vigorous. It has quieted down but still making noise and moving around. It pushed all the other eggs around so they are no longer "right side up". The humidity was spot on the first 18 days - 50-55%. We increased the humidity on day 18 and it went up to about 75 for about a day then started increasing and is now 83. I think what's happening is water is condensing on the inside of the incubator then rolling / dripping down into the bottom of the incubator increasing the surface area of the water. I've done everything I can think of short of opening it up to try and get it down. Questions:

1) Should I take the first chick out and put it in our brooder (all setup, 95 degrees, etc) or wait? It's not fully dry but I'm concerned it won't in the high humidity?
2) Should I open the incubator up and wipe down the sides or something to try and reduce the humidity?
3) Should I try to put the other eggs back where they were (at least 2 more had started to pip so I can find the holes and put them "up"

Thanks in advance. I'm a bit sleepy - not much sleep last night. The incubator is in our bedroom

Jerry

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Way too much humidity. You can drown the chicks in the shells. #1 Yes #2 Yes #3 Yes.
It sounds like you know what to do!

 

[jhoff]

Thanks Chick removed to brooder. I think it's gonna be fine. Do I need to teach it how to eat or drink? I think it doesn't need to eat or drink for as much as 3 days from the yolk?

Did the other things although the humidity just goes back up. Gonna try to syringe water out of the trays. Water definitely dripped down into the bottom of the incubator.

There's at least one more ready to hatch. I can see it's beak moving around thru the pip hole and it's peeping away There are at least 3 more that have pipped. We started with 12, culled 5 as either unfertilized or died early and have 7 left. They are from a friend with a mixed flock and 2 roos.

 

[jhoff]

In general, how long should I wait after hatching to move them to the brooder?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I let them mostly dry off and fluff up and I remove them. I dip their beaks in the water, they figure out where their food is when they get hungry. I sprinkle some feed on the floor by the feeder to encourage them.

 

[jhoff]

I did dip it's beak in water and try to show it were the food is. I have 3" or so of wood shavings on the floor - good or bad? That was the suggestion of the book we have. It is pecking at it.

Humidity is down to 77-78.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

That's fine but put some paper towels on top of the shavings for the first week. Then you can sprinkle the food around the feeder and they can see it better.

 

[Farmerbetsy]

Two just erupted out at the exact same time and the humidity is back up to 84! I syringes out all the water I could suck up via the inlets. Should we 1) take the two out into the brooder with their sister 2) syringe water out of the bottom 3) they've rolled all their sisters over, should we turn the pips back upright?!

 

[jhoff]

We have the three that have hatched in the brooder. The first one was kinda sleepy for awhile but is now pretty active. The others (hatched about 2 hours ago) are basically sleeping unless poked. The older one and one of the new ones "pant" sometimes - is it too hot? I have a thermometer and it reads about 96.5.

 

[jhoff]

a 4th has hatched