They hatched...They Hatched.....whoo hoo!

[Crazy Chicken Fever]

I am soooooo excited! I just hatched my first set of Guinea eggs. My question is do I try to feed/water them while they are drying in the bator? Or do I wait till fully dry and do it when I take them out? They started hatching at about 11pm last night and I have 7 of the little stinkers fully hatched. About six more still working on getting out. I would hate for them to ge to hot without water.

Advice please.....I am a rookie

Thanks everyone!
Jamie

 

[cat]

congratulations! From what I have read they have are good without food and water for at least 24 hours, so if I was you I would wait until they are all hatched before opening the incubator, but that is just imoh, hopefully someone more knowledgeable can advise you.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

 

[TXmom]

Congrats!!!

I've read that you're supposed to be on lockdown until they all hatch, or you risk killing the unhatched ones. Your babies should be fine for at least a full day, or maybe two?

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Do not open the incubator.Do not open the incubator.Do not open the incubator.Do not open the incubator.

Got it? It will make all the other chicks have a really hard time hatching out. They may not be able to. Let them have time.

 

[Debbienmousey]

First let me say, congratulations!! Guinea keets are the cutest things and I bet you'll love their quirky personalities!

When I hatch keets I leave them in the incubator for around 1 day after the first keet hatched. You can go 2 days if you need to. They do not need food in the incubator, and they will be fine on water also. If you have 10+ hatched(I know you said 7) and that many or more still to hatch, I would move the babies. You don't want the incubator to be crowded with keets. You may also want to leave 1-2 of the newest hatched keets so that they can rest more in the incubator and also encourage the un-hatched keets to hatch. Plus this time allows you to check the water levels and scoop out any eggshells.

What I found works good is to number each egg before they hatch (I normally do it at the start of incubation) and record the time when each egg pips and hatches. Then, even if you can't tell the keets apart, you know when each one hatched.

So pretty much, if the first one hatched has been out of the shell for not quite a day, and if you've only got a couple more to hatch, I'd just leave the hatched keets in the incubator till the rest hatch. If you have 10+ still to hatch and only a few pipping (Or only a few small pips) I would move the hatched keets. Get somebody to help you, they can hold the lid while you move the keets. If your humidity has been good so far chances are it will stay that way. (Especially if you leave 1-2 of the wetter keets in the incubator)

Good luck!!

 

[Crazy Chicken Fever]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate all the advice. I will post pictures soon. I believe I have a pied, it looks just like stripe from the gremlin movie and even has a mohawlk right down the center of the head.....sooooo cute!

So far I have 7 keets and 2 royal palm turkeys that have hatched. I took all the dry keets out and left the 2 wet palms and a wet keet in the bator. Looks like one of the palms might be having a hard time walking. I am going to wait till it drys and then look at the legs. I think I have about 8 more guinea eggs to hatch and 5 more turkey eggs, however, I think 3 of the turkey eggs are duds.....only time will tell )