Very early chick

[Chickhawk]

Currently incubating eggs. At day 20 +2h, one chick hatched. As I am writing this, it is day 21 +1h. 7 more hatched recently and more are on their way. That very early chick is now 24h out of the egg. I still need to wait a good 16h+ for all the other eggs to hatch. How long can that early chick survive without water? Should I take it out of the incubator risking shrink wrap?

 

[McChooky]

Currently incubating eggs. At day 20 +2h, one chick hatched. As I am writing this, it is day 21 +1h. 7 more hatched recently and more are on their way. That very early chick is now 24h out of the egg. I still need to wait a good 16h+ for all the other eggs to hatch. How long can that early chick survive without water? Should I take it out of the incubator risking shrink wrap?

It will be fine in the incubator with the other chicks that hatch. They can go 3 days without food and water. Leave it in there with the others.They encourage each other to hatch. Some people remove them quickly and put them in another incubator that's already set up and waiting. How many eggs do you have waiting to hatch?

 

[NatJ]

How long can that early chick survive without water?

Chicks can usually go about 72 hours without food or water, since they absorb the yolk just before hatching.

It does not harm the chicks to take them out of the incubator and offer food and water sooner, but it also does not harm the chicks to leave them in for 24-48 hours while you are waiting for the rest of the eggs to hatch.

Should I take it out of the incubator risking shrink wrap?

If you want to take chicks out, I would try to pick a time when no eggs are actively pipped or hatching. Have a box or something handy that you can put chicks in, open the incubator, and take out all the hatched chicks. You can take out the empty shells or leave them in. Close the incubator and go put the chicks in the brooder, and dispose of any eggshells that you took out.

If you do this once and then close the incubator, it typically does not shrink wrap the other eggs. You do not need to rush so much you are clumsy, just have everything ready and don't dawdle while the incubator is open.

It is probably fine to leave the chicks in the incubator or to take them out at this point.

 

[Chickhawk]

It will be fine in the incubator with the other chicks that hatch. They can go 3 days without food and water. Leave it in there with the others.They encourage each other to hatch. Some people remove them quickly and put them in another incubator that's already set up and waiting. How many eggs do you have waiting to hatch?

Probably another 15

 

[McChooky]

It will be fine in the incubator with the other chicks that hatch. They can go 3 days without food and water. Leave it in there with the others.They encourage each other to hatch. Some people remove them quickly and put them in another incubator that's already set up and waiting. How many eggs do you have waiting to hatch?

I'm not saying leave it in there 3 days but I am saying it will be just fine with the others for 48 hrs.It will start peeping when its hungry and will get louder and louder

 

[McChooky]

Probably another 15

For obvious reasons if your chicks are crowded you can move the ones who've already hatched and dry to the brooder (but do it quickly) You should wait until most of them have already hatched if possible

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do not know what regulations Canada has, but US postal regulations require a chick to be processed and in the mail 24 hours after hatch. There has to be a reasonable expectation that the chick will be delivered within 48 hours after entering the mailing system. That is a total of 72 hours. A healthy chick that absorbs the yolk can go that 72 hours without eating or drinking and still be in great shape. It lives off of the yolk for food and water. For the health and safety of the chicks, you do not have to remove them from the incubator for at least 72 hours. If the hatch is over earlier than that, you can remove them. They probably won't eat or drink a lot if you take them out early, but some will. It will not hurt them to eat or drink earlier, it's just that they don't have to. The incubator is a safe temperature for them.

It is possible to shrink wrap a chick that has not hatched by opening the incubator before it hatched, especially if it has pipped. The reason you raise the humidity for hatch is to help reduce the chance of shrink wrap. Since there is a risk I try to avoid letting the moisture out by opening the incubator. I personally don't see any reason to take unnecessary risks with hatching chicks. But, even if you open the incubator at a bad time you usually do not see any shrink wrap. The actual risk is fairly low. If I have an emergency in the incubator I'll open it and take care of the problem. One time, half of an eggshell from a chick that had hatched cupped around an unhatched egg. That would have made it really hard for a chick to pip or zip so I opened the incubator and took care of the problem.

From what you described I do not see that you have any kind of emergency. I'd wait.

 

[Chickhawk]

Thanks for all your replies. It is now almost day 22, in a few hours. Seeing no pip on the remaining eggs, I took the chicks out, 21 total. I will keep the incubator on until tomorrow morning. Thanks again.

 

[Tex452]

I take mine out as soon as they are dry, I never had any problems with shrink wrap.
I dry hatch, my humidity stays around 35-40%, I don’t like the hatched chicks moving the other eggs around.