Shrink Wrapping???? How,when????

[TarHeelBlue]

I WAS TOLD THAT IF AN EGG HAS PIPPED THAT OPENING THE BATOR WOULD PROBABLY CAUSE SHRINK WRAP TO OCCUR - WHICH MAKES SENSE. I WAS ALSO TOLD THAT IF THE EGGS HAVEN'T PIPPED YET, IT IS MUCH HARDER TO CAUSE SHRINK WRAPPING. i AM ASKING BECAUSE MY BATOR MALFUNCTIONED AND THE HUMIDITY WAS DOWN TO AROUND 45% FOR AT LEAST A MINUTE - BUT NO EGGS (TURKEY) HAD PIPPED YET. WHAT DO YOU THINK?? IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO??

 

[Robo]

People scream abiut shrink wrapping all the time. Trust me it is not like some people say. If you open the incubator to add water or take a chick out you're fine. 45% houldn't hurt them much. Duck eggs possibly, but with Turkey eggs you should be fine. If you are really worried about it use a still air for hatching. A fan will dry out the late pippers sometimes...

 

[TarHeelBlue]

SWEET, I feel a little better. I have a Brinsea with the humidity control, I can't turn the fan off, but it keeps the humidity at a steady 70%. Thanks for the information. (if you read this, should I increase the humidity, or will this do it especially since they went with 45% for a little bit)

 

[Tuffoldhen]

"Shrink Wrapping" does occur. It happens quite often when the incubator is opened alot pulling out chicks when you have other pipping going on. Those pips have a membrane around the egg shell and every time the bator is opened humidity is lost and those membranes dry up and shrink around chicks. I do not open the bator once a hatch has started and do not pull out chicks til the hatching is complete.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

How quickly it happens has to do with how much moisture is still in the egg at lock-down. The dryer the egg is at lock-down the more dangerous opening the incubator is. Do I open mine? Yes, when I have to but I try not to after the first pip till the last one hatches. But if something goes wrong I go in an fix it an mist everything on the way out.

 

[columbiacritter]

Our bator is in a bathroom so we run a heater and run the shower until it's really hot and steamy in there before we open during a hatch then we're quick about it. Pulling out 5 early hatchers yesterday we only dropped the humidity to 50% and the temp to 97.8. I topped off the tuna cans of water so the humidity popped up to 70% for a while. I really doubt anyone shrink wrapped.

The biggest challenge was snatching up 5 chicks running all over in the hatcher without one escaping.