Should I take new chicks out??

[mamachick]

Hi! My eggs are hatching over a period of a couple of days. First question is, do I need to put food into incubator for first hatchlings, or how soon do they need food & water? Second question is, should I take newly hatched chicks out within a certain time period to avoid their droppings from creating deadly bacteria for chicks that are still hatching? My hatch rate is less than half right now, and some of the later hatchlings are dying mid-way through.

Thank you!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It is important to keep the humidity up throughout hatch so you don't want to open the incubator.
There isn't any deadly bacteria in the chick feces unless they had one of the diseases that is transmitted vertically - hen to chick.
They can go 3 days without food and water. Adding food to that hot humid environment could possibly add more bacteria and fungus than the feces.

 

[3BirdGirlz]

I've had multiple hatches.....if I had eggs not hatched but externally pipped I didn't take chicks out...but if no other eggs are pipped yet, then I took the hatched chicks out. I didn't loose a chick this way and had great hatches...just what I did...right or not.

 

[mamachick]

Good to know all that, thank you!