When do I take the baby chickens out of the incubator?

[Georgetownchick]

Five have now hatched. I have six more eggs. They have pushed all the eggs to the side of the incubator and it is hard to tell if they have pipped yet. The first chicken hatched about 3pm this afternoon. They all still look pretty wet. None are fluffy. How long does it take for them to fluff? How long do I wait to see if the others will hatch?

 

[Quyen Le]

At least 24 hours. Don't open up the incubator now. My first hatch, I opened the incubator up to take the hatched chicks out, I got very low hatch rate. Later, I just leave them in there, hatch rate goes up higher.

 

[Countrypunk92]

Hello, And

You know the yolk in a chicken egg? Well that yolk is the food and nutrients for the chick when it hatches, it is absorbed into the abdomen as the chick gets ready to hatch.
that food and nutrients will beable to keep the chick fed for around 3 days. That is why hatcheries ship day old chicks, It is because they do not need food or water in that 3 hour range. So if you still think your other eggs can still hatch. Just leave them be for another day or so.

If you need to open it. Try and get a towl or something to drape over you and the hatcher/incubator. that way not as much hot air and humidity leaves the hatcher. but try and resist the urge to get the chicks and open the hatcher. it can affect the hatch rate.
Also make sure the chicks are dry before taking them out and putting them in the brooder.

Hoped this helped, and Welcome to BYC. and if yah need anything, do not hesitate to ask!

-Alexander.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Chicks feed off of the yolk for 24-48 hours after hatch. Leave hatched babies in until completely dry when possible. If you have really late hatchers or all pipped eggs have finished hatching you can quickly reach in & pull out dry chicks who are over the 24 hour mark. Only open the bator as far as absolutely necessary & close as quickly as possible. If you are concerned about humidity loss you can take a spray bottle of hot water & mist the lid of the bator 1-2 times before closing. Do not spray the eggs directly as you could drown hatching babies in the shell.

 

[elliebellie123]

Wait 24 hours, during that time you can't feed them, give them water, or touch them. Hope this helped!!

 

[SilkieSensation]

Wait 24 hours, during that time you can't feed them, give them water, or touch them. Hope this helped!!

The 24 hour "hands off" theory is absolutely wrong. I have pulled chicks out minutes after hatch, still wet, & plopped them in the brooder to finish drying to avoid games of egg football when running staggered hatches (which I do quite often). They do just fine & even usually start eating & drinking within a couple hours. My chicks are all handled right away & are quite tame even when they get older. I rarely have to chase any of my hand raised birds if I need to catch them for any reason. The only birds I've ever had to chase are ones I've gotten that were over about a week old when I got them. The older they were the harder they were to tame. I recommend handling all babies as early as possible & keep doing it consistently as they grow to keep them used to being handled. They are much easier to handle when they get older this way.

 

[sweetpeafarm]

i usually wait a day or so. they need to dry out and be walking around and active before you take them out

 

[elliebellie123]

The 24 hour "hands off" theory is absolutely wrong. I have pulled chicks out minutes after hatch, still wet, & plopped them in the brooder to finish drying to avoid games of egg football when running staggered hatches (which I do quite often). They do just fine & even usually start eating & drinking within a couple hours. My chicks are all handled right away & are quite tame even when they get older. I rarely have to chase any of my hand raised birds if I need to catch them for any reason. The only birds I've ever had to chase are ones I've gotten that were over about a week old when I got them. The older they were the harder they were to tame. I recommend handling all babies as early as possible & keep doing it consistently as they grow to keep them used to being handled. They are much easier to handle when they get older this way.

I've heard otherwise, but OK I still think that not touching them for 24 hours is the better way because I've heard it's the better thing to do from a lot of people, but I will test your theory

 

[SilkieSensation]

I've hatched over 500 babies (chicks, ducks, turkeys & quail) just in the past 6 months. I run 4 bators all summer in staggered hatches. Sometimes it's better to remove babies before dry but I try to at least let them dry most of the way & remove them in groups to avoid opening the bator too often. The main reason not to open the bator to remove chicks is not because there is an issue with touching them. It is to prevent the remaining babies from getting shrinkwrapped by loss of humidity from opening the bator. So that means the danger is not to the already hatched chicks but to the ones still trying to hatch.

 

[lennyox]

Thats all cook i was what i was looking for i am new to this i tried my incubator for the first time with 2 eggs just to see how it all works and to my surprise both eggs hatched last night at around the same time only 20 days cool