Topic of the Week - Hatching Eggs

[redinator]

I always move them out of the incubator when they have dried or if they are full of energy

When all have dried off, or as each individual chick dries off?

 

[redinator]

Does opening and removing the hatched out chicks from the incubator not risk the other eggs from shrink wrapping?

I was wondering this too.

 

[allosaurusrock]

I was wondering this too.

It is better to wait until all the eggs are done hatching before pulling chicks out. It can definitely cause large variations in humidity that can cause membranes to dry out.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I was wondering this too.

Yes, it can lead to shrink wrapped chicks but it really depends on the environment and location of your setup. Always take into account the room environment and season. Here in the north during winter/spring the air is very dry indoors, forced air furnaces creates cold/warm areas, and drafts from entering/exiting the house impacts air flow. Opening the incubator at any time dramatically reduces it's humidity and temp. Best to leave it alone, but sometimes opening the incubator is necessary. For this reason I find it helpful to me to set up my incubation operation in a guest bathroom, and I run the shower for steam to make it less impactful to the eggs upon opening the lid from anytime after day 17 (to be certain)-that's just me being super cautious.

 

[kachong]

Yes, it can lead to shrink wrapped chicks but it really depends on the environment and location of your setup. Always take into account the room environment and season. Here in the north during winter/spring the air is very dry indoors, forced air furnaces creates cold/warm areas, and drafts from entering/exiting the house impacts air flow. Opening the incubator at any time dramatically reduces it's humidity and temp. Best to leave it alone, but sometimes opening the incubator is necessary. For this reason I find it helpful to me to set up my incubation operation in a guest bathroom, and I run the shower for steam to make it less impactful to the eggs upon opening the lid from anytime after day 17 (to be certain)-that's just me being super cautious.

Very helpful, thank you!

 

[Kkoleckar]

Not sure if I'm in the right place but my question pertains to egg fertility. I have 2 Peking drakes, a malard drake and a female malard. I have seen Freedom taken place by one Peking and my female mallard she has recently laid an egg but I'm not sure if it's fertile can anyone tell me an easy method so I could find out

Is she laying on the egg or have you pulled it inside? You have to candel the egg with a small light and you’ll be able to see fetal development in about a week if she is laying on the egg or incubating inside

 

[Asha_Gail]

- How long would you consider a "normal" hatching process for different species, from pip to hatch?

So far I have hatched Chickens, Ducks (Mallard Derived), and King Quail. I wouldn't say I'm the most knowledgeable on hatching quail so I'll exclude them.

Chickens have always been very punctual for me. They incubate, they reach lockdown and wait, they pip, they zip, and they finally hatch out. I've had good hatch rates with chickens, and have never had any scissor beak or other deformation from my current flock. Usually for me mine start to hatch on day 21 and are all done by the end of day 21.

Ducks I've learned like to take their time. Lockdown comes, they wait, they pip, they wait, they start to zip, they wait, then they free themselves and then? Then they take a nap. (Much deserved.) I've noticed my ducks have sometimes had slower hatches compared to the rest of their clutches, which I attribute to a weaker duckling or a hard shell. I do hatch older eggs.

- Do you assist struggling hatchlings and when is best?

I've assisted hatches 3 times. I've only been successful once, however one case was when I was first starting out and I take full ownership of my failure as I was young, excited, and jumped the gun which resulted in my interference causing the ducklings death. The third case was not my or the duckling's fault. A broody muscovy hen hatched in December, and I'm in the northern hemisphere. The whole clutch died so I attribute it to a cursed hatch, likely from the weather.

I try not to assist these days. Mostly because my losses are usually during the second week of incubation. Usually though, I give a chick 24 hours after the last chick of the clutch has hatched. If it hasn't made progress I investigate and go from there.

- What do you do when you have a malpositioned hatchling (For example, pipping on the wrong side of the egg)?

If I've ever had a case of that I haven't caught it!

- How long do you leave hatched chicks in the incubator, before moving them to the brooder?

Chicks get moved out once they're fluffed, I think they insulate themselves better once fluffy so I let them puff up first. I usually wait till there's a few fluffy and a few wet to take the fluffies out. Mostly because I want the fluffed to have company, and I want the wet chicks to peep and encourage other chicks to hatch!

All my duck hatches have been extremely small, so I've often taken them out of the incubator and and just held them. Then returned them to the incubator for a bit. They're moved into the brooder by the end of the day though.

Anything you'd like to add?

I am a firm believer in incubator algebra. It's like chicken math but arguably worse because it takes your hen addition and turns it into hen multiplication! I started with 4 chickens and an incubator. Then I filled said incubator. So obviously I needed more room so I got 2 more incubators! Now I'm at 4 incubators and 4 chickens turned into 30 in just one summer... The moral of this story is beware the Incubator Algebra.