When to move from hatcher to brooder?

[Hennypen]

Right away or wait a day or two?

I like the idea of a sealed environment for the first 2 days but didn't know if 2 days was too long. When should I give them food and water?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Healthy chicks can live for at least three days after they hatch without any food or water since they absorb whats left of the yolk just before they finish hatching. Nature set it up this way so Mama could keep the early hatchers on the nest while she waited on the late hatchers. That's why they can be mailed and survive so well.

I move mine from the incubator to the brooder as soon as I am sure the hatch is over and the last one has dried off. Last time, my oldest was about 40 hours old and the youngest was about 18 hours old when I moved them. All 17 survived.