I put 80 James marie shipped eggs in incubator, 3 hatched day 15, one died, 3 more on day 16 and a couple more are pipping today day 17, should i move the 5 fluffed up ones to the brooder and how long before i shut down the hatcher humidity is still around 50 down from 62, thanks for any help.
The ones that are ready to come out I would take them out. the 1st ones that hatched should be getting close to their yoke sack being gone. Just do it quickly and add a wet spounge to help keep the humidity up while you are opening it. Dont take the lid all the way off just lift it up enough to get your hand in there to grab the chicks.
Moved them like you said, 6 more hatched this morning humidity still 65, they are having trouble drying out. thank you for your advice!!
Put a bowl of water in the incubator to increase humidity. I spliced a PC fan with a phone charger to make my DIY fan for the incubator. That way, the chicks dry fast and the hatch rate is much higher than with a still air incubator where you have uneven temperatures. That is probably what is causing your hatches to be days apart.
It's best to have two people - one to slide the lid over a crack and shine a light in that crack (luckily quail chicks are attracted to this!) and the other person picking up the fluffy chicks and putting them right in the brooder Good luck!!!
