Removing chicks before they are dry in incubator ?

[NatJ]

Like this?

Yes, that is what I was thinking of. I hope it works right! I've never done anything quite like it myself, so I was trying to think of what will make the right results in your case (keep chicks from drowning, but keep enough humidity for eggs to hatch properly.)

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

Yes, that is what I was thinking of. I hope it works right! I've never done anything quite like it myself, so I was trying to think of what will make the right results in your case (keep chicks from drowning, but keep enough humidity for eggs to hatch properly.)

It seems to be doing the trick! The chick that hatched while I was cutting up the cloth was resting its head on the towels just fine and still able to breath properly without the risk of drowning!

Thank you for your good and quick thinking! It helped me now and I’m sure it will help me in the future if myself or someone I knows may have the same issue

 

[NatJ]

It seems to be doing the trick! The chick that hatched while I was cutting up the cloth was resting its head on the towels just fine and still able to breath properly without the risk of drowning!

Thank you for your good and quick thinking! It helped me now and I’m sure it will help me in the future if myself or someone I knows may have the same issue

I'm so glad to hear that!

 

[kubotafoot]

It’s my first time hatching eggs. It’s in someone else’s incubator who didn’t give me many instructions when incubating. Besides fill the water up and turn the eggs daily.

I’ve had a few chicks hatch successfully but then this morning one hatched and then drowned an hour later while I was allowing it to dry off before moving it to the brooder. I had left the room to hopefully be able to leave to do laundry and then came back to a deceased chick with its head submerged in the water.

I read in another thread on here sponges could be used in the water trough inside the incubator and I’m definitely thinking that if I incubate eggs in the future, that I will definitely be doing that instead of leaving it open for this risk again.

I’m mainly wondering if there’s a problem with removing the chick before it’s fully dry? If there is, could maybe towelling it off and then placing it in the brooder with the other chicks, would that be okay to do as well? I have 9 more eggs to hatch and I don’t have the means to cut up a bunch of sponges currently and stuff them in there during chicks pipping/zipping.

Yes...use sponges towards the last and I have moved moist chicks to the brooder, but as the are dazed and look different, they get bullied. Why do you have water access in you incubator?

 

[kubotafoot]

I thought most incubators were set up so that the chicks can’t actually get to the water. It’s underneath with some kind of mesh or perforated floor.

My thoughts as well.

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

Yes...use sponges towards the last and I have moved moist chicks to the brooder, but as the are dazed and look different, they get bullied. Why do you have water access in you incubator?

My thoughts as well.

This incubator was borrowed from a friend and it just doesn’t come with a cover for the water reservoir. I really don’t like the design of this incubator. It’s the HHD brand Smile incubator, the red 30 egg one.

I’ve looked at the incubator more closely before returning it to them and I realized the egg tray was upside down and I never realized this as I set the bator up myself alone and the instructions didn’t say how that goes in and I thought it was in the right way after my friend had used it the last time but I must’ve been wrong. I’m unsure if that’s why it seemed like there was no room for the chicks or if that’s why they were so much closer to the water than they should have been but it’s still a big hazard, just one that was a centimeter closer for me than what it should have been with proper im egg tray set up.

I also think the eggs would have been turned more frequently if the incubator had been able to do the automatic turning like it’s supposed to do.

Live and learn, then share your experiences for others to know about. Which is why I’m letting people know the incubator I used is not one I prefer at all..