On Day 15, questions about hatching

[Sapphirex2]

I am on incubation day 15 and I'll be removing the chicken eggs from the egg turner on Sunday. This is my second incubation and the first did not go as well as I had hoped. I want to make sure that I do everything correctly. I didn't have anyone to talk to during the last incubation and just joined BYC. I'm hoping that all of you with experience will be able to guide me through a ;more successful hatch this time.

I have 21 eggs that should be hatching this time in theory. I candled them this last week and disposed of the eggs that didn't form or progress so I should have only eggs that were growing when I candled them. I need to prevent baby chicks from sticking to their shells, splayed legs and curled toes, and any other potential problems. I have several questions.

1. I read somewhere that it is a good idea to put the eggs in an egg carton inside the incubator for hatching. Is this true and does it work? Can anyone give me more information? The problem I had last time is that as chicks were hatching they were crawling on top of eggs that were starting to pip and jostling all the eggs everywhere. Some eggs were completely turned due to the newly hatched chicks. I am worried that this was part of the problem. It seems that having them in an egg carton would prevent the hatching eggs from getting jostled as much.

2. Should you remove the chicks as they hatch but not more than once a day? It seems like there is so much information on opening the incubator and not opening the incubator that I am confused on this point.

3. What do you do if your humidity decreases during the last three days/hatching time? If it is bad to open the incubator, what do you do about increasing your humidity?

That is all I can think of for now and appreciate anyones insight on these questions!

Thank you so much,

Elizabeth

 

[gabrielle1976]

First of all

Ok you can use egg cartons if you like take off the tops of the cartons so you just have the part with the cups the eggs sit in then remove a small part of the bottom of each cup dime sized give or take this helps the eggs from being used in incubator soccer by new hatched chicks.
Once you go in lock down try not to open the bator espaccally if you have any pips as the loss of humidity can cuase the babies to beccome stuck inside they eggs .
You can try to set up befor hand how you will get more water into the bator for humidity. I justgest haveing a small pan under the screen with a sponge in it or an extra few small jars with pieaces of sponge half in half out to wick the moister up .
Haveing a small length of tubeing such as air line tubeing for fish pumps ect can help by giveing you something you can insert into the vent holes to add water without haveing to open the bator . Make shure both vents are open so that the babies have air. Postion the water pans jars sponges in an area you can reach with the tube or straw, useing a small syringe with out a needle can help add water with the straw or tube.
once the babies start hatching its ok to leave them in there for up to 24 hours . As its unwise to open the bator. If you ahve a few babies that are dried out and running amuck but NO PIPS you can try to grab them out quickly and carefully but it really wont hurt them to be in there for a little bit as long as there is proper O2 levels and warmth.

 

[MuscovyMad]

Hey

1. I cut a toilet roll into rings and sit each egg in it's own ring. That way thay can still lie horizontally however they are not going to get kicked about by the other chicks. I did read a little bit on the egg carton method and it seems alright. Just make sure they are pointy end down.

2. I'd wait until all the chicks have hatched before you remove any chicks. Other wise you risk humidity dropping for the last ones hatching.

3. Your not suppsed to open the bator in the last 3 days to prevent humidity from falling. However if it is already low then you will need to open it to correct it. One method of raising humidity is to add a damp sponge. As the extra moist surface area will help raise it up again.

Hope this hatch goes well for you.

 

[mstricer]

WELCOME TO BYC
You are doing everything fine except for, you are worrying to much about the what ifs. I just had a horrible hatch that I thought was going to be great and even started that way. I thought I should remove some of the chicks and did it twice, once late day 19 then again on day 20, then on day 21 nothing more and over 50 chicks died in their shells. DON'T OPEN THE LID UNTIL YOUR HATCH IS OVER. Even if others say they do it with no problems. You can hatch in egg cartons if you want. Lots do, some dont.
Michele

 

[AnimalLover234]

Question #1 : I never put any of my eggs in egg cartons so I wouldn't know, but I did have 19 out of 27 eggs hatch very recently. It is normal for the chicks to bump the eggs it is not a problem you should be worried about

Question #2 : I removed them as soon as all the chicks that hatched and were dryed and fluffy I never had a problem with having deformed chicks or shrink-wrapped chicks exept for this last time but she is very well and already has a name : Seran I love all my chicks and never had a problem with anything

Quetion #3 : It is normal for the humidity to decrease, Don't do anything to increase the humidity level

Good Luck!!

- AnimalLover234 -​

 

[Sapphirex2]

Thank you so much for all of the info! I am so happy I found this web site. It definitely helps having people out there that can answer these questions!