I have 40 eggs in the bator, 7 have hatched so far, they are walking and rumbling everyone. I have at least 7 more pipping. Do I leave them in there? Or should I take them out to the brooder? If I do, what is my window of time before shrinkwrapping happens? I still find it amazing that me and my daughter hatched 4 eggs on our laps, all were at the pip stage, we didn't mist them or anything. I am now hatching their babies in this bator, I didn't know much about shrinkwrapping last spring, so we sure were lucky that we saved the babies we did last spring.
for me I left the chicks till they were completed fluffled up then took them out, one egg was pipped and all the other chicks had been in nearly 24 hours and i decided to chance it and take them out and the last remaining egg hatched during the night with no problems, my incubator in the brinsea octagon advance with humidity pump though so the temp and humidity correct themselves pretty fast
if the humidity is in the 70's, it shouldn't hurt it, should it, seeing as in the 60's is a good range too, would it drop that fast? I guess i could move it to the bathroom and do the shower thing, but, then it's carrying the bator and trying to be careful not to roll the babies and eggs around more then they are now.
Okay, so this goes against EVERYTHING that they say here on BYC, but... I just hatched my first hatch and I had every intention of leaving them in the bator until they had all hatched. The first chicks were playing soccer with the rest of my eggs AND it had been 24 hours since they had hatched and they STILL weren't dry (humid and still air incubator). Not to mention it's disgusting once they start hatching and when I looked at that warm, steamy environment all I could think of was all the bacteria that was growing in that thing. I brought the bator to the bathroom (I didn't roll them around nearly as much as the chicks were!), plugged it in, ran the shower until it was good and steamy, and pulled them out one at a time. I did this three times during the hatch and didn't have any "shrinkwrapping" or anything like that. Every time I pulled a batch out, a new batch would emerge. I was concerned about pulling them out while they were still damp but I put them directly in a warm brooder (99 degrees) and they fluffed very quickly. Everyone seems to be fine. I'll probably use egg cartons the next time I hatch, but if I have the same problem I'll do it just the same!
leave them in there until you are sure there are no pips at all. You will shrink wrap them if you open it.
