When to hatch chicks

[aart]

Ok I've been candleing every day from day two could that be the no movement issue?

It takes while before you can see anything, both because of rate of development and needing experience to see what is there at each stage.
Why I posted my first experience above to maybe guide you, if you read it thoroughly.

Do some googling and find some videos and/or images of what a developing egg looks like at certain days of incubation.
Tho a lot of the candling images are done on small white eggs, the larger and darker the egg, the harder it will be to see in there.

The most important tip I have for candling is to use a very bright light in a very dark room.
Makes a huge difference in how well you will be able to see.
I use a windowless room that's close to the incubator...or wait until late at night.

 

[ChickenEnthusiast]

Yeah ok thanks I normally candle them in the afternoon time when I turn them, and about an hour ago I candled them again and in three of my eggs I did see a spitter shaped thing in the yolk so that means they are developing right. Thanks

 

[Poultry keeper2]

Hey so would it be fine to candle every day?

 

[Blueoriental]

Hello there, I have ten eggs in my incubator, they are due to hatch a weeks today

This is my first time using it. Just wondered if there are any tips to help me when they hatch? I have a brooder. How long do i leave them in the incubator for once they have hatched?

 

[Poultry keeper2]

Unti

Hello there, I have ten eggs in my incubator, they are due to hatch a weeks today

This is my first time using it. Just wondered if there are any tips to help me when they hatch? I have a brooder. How long do i leave them in the incubator for once they have hatched?

Normally you leave them until they are dry.

 

[chickens really]

Yes, till Dry and not stumbling.......You will know when.....

Best wishes on your Hatch..


Cheers!

 

[Blueoriental]

Thank you

I'm very excited

 

[Ridgerunner]

Different people have different attitudes about this. Before they hatch a chick absorbs the yolk. The chick can live off of the stuff in that yolk without eating and drinking for 72 hours or more. So you don’t have to take them out for at least three days after the first one hatches. That’s why they can be mailed without food and water.

There is a risk that you can cause a chick to shrink-wrap by opening the incubator after an egg has external pipped but before it zips. Shrink-wrap is when the membrane that separates the chick from the inside of the egg shell dries out and shrinks so tightly around the chick that it is imprisoned, it cannot move to hatch. Unless it gets help, it will die.

Shrink-wrapping does not happen every time you open the incubator after an egg has pipped. Actually is seldom happens. Some people believe that because it has never happened to them it can’t happen. I’m not one of those because it has happened to me.

Some people open the incubator all the time and don’t see any shrink-wrapping or just accept the risk. One way to prepare your incubator for opening while a chick has pipped is to keep the humidity higher than normal during lockdown. That way there is less chance the humidity inside the incubator will drop low enough to cause a problem when you open it. Or some people may mist the eggs when they open the incubator. Some people steam up a bathroom and take the incubator in there where the humidity is really high. Or some people just don’t worry about it.

If I have a problem inside the incubator I need to deal with, I’ll open the incubator before the hatch is over. If I have an emergency I’ll take care of it and just accept the risk. But unless I have an emergency I wait until the hatch is over and remove all the chicks at the same time.

I want the chicks active when I take them out. Right after they hatch the chicks are normally pretty wet, weak, and helpless but before too long they start moving around. Depending on the humidity in your incubator some chicks can have a lot of trouble drying off, even after hours. You do not want the chicks to get chilled between the incubator and the brooder. If a chick is still a little damp, keep it out of a breeze and get it in the brooder where it is warm as soon as you reasonably can.

 

[Poultry keeper2]

Thank you

I'm very excited

Yeah they are very cute.