When to remove newly hatched chicks/when to add water?

[boymeetschicken]

So excited! First hatch here. Two eggs hatched about 2 hours ago and the chicks are staggering inside the incubator. Two more eggs inside not even pipped, although it's hard to tell because they are being rolled around so much by the chicks.

Two questions:
1) When should I move the new chicks to the brooder?
2) I'm using the Brinsea Mini Advance and the water level in the reservoir seems low. Should I open the lid to add water and if so, when?

Thanks!!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

So excited! First hatch here. Two eggs hatched about 2 hours ago and the chicks are staggering inside the incubator. Two more eggs inside not even pipped, although it's hard to tell because they are being rolled around so much by the chicks.

Two questions:
1) When should I move the new chicks to the brooder?
2) I'm using the Brinsea Mini Advance and the water level in the reservoir seems low. Should I open the lid to add water and if so, when?

Thanks!!

It depends you you talk to. When to move your chicks is a personal decision. It should be based on your comfort level and your humidity. If your humidity is high enough and your bator recovers humidity well, then there is no reason you can not move them when you wish.
Many people do not take chicks out until the hatch is completely done, even if it takes 2 days. Some people remove chicks once they are dry and fluffed up. Then there are those of us who remove sooner.

I myself remove my chicks as they become active and start moving around in the bator. I run my humidity high so chicks dry and fluff better in my brooder under the light. I also provide electrolyte enhanced water and starter crumbles in the brooder from the get go and let them decide when they are ready.

As for adding water, I'd quickly add the water and then pull the chicks out if you are going to do so.

 

[boymeetschicken]

Thanks!

 

[junebuggena]

I leave at least one or two hatched chicks in the incubator until they have all hatched. Those little one peeping and moving around encourage the other chicks to start hatching. The chicks in the eggs really respond to the chicks that have hatched.
Remember, there is no rush. Chicks can live off that yolk sac for up to 3 days without food or water.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I leave at least one or two hatched chicks in the incubator until they have all hatched. Those little one peeping and moving around encourage the other chicks to start hatching. The chicks in the eggs really respond to the chicks that have hatched.
Remember, there is no rush. Chicks can live off that yolk sac for up to 3 days without food or water.

It's true the peeping does encourage others. I should add, that I use video of recorded chicks at the bator (from youtube on my phone) especially during zipping as I have found the recorded sounds are actually more motivational to the chicks than the actual chicks and you don't have the chicks crawling all over the eggs.

Even though the whole "chicks can last three days off the yolk" is a much passed around "fact". It should be noted that chicks can become dehydrated during the hatching process as well as the fact that the chick (according to the Cobb's development chart) also on the average start absorbing that yolk at day 19, so a chick being hatched on day 21 that absorbed yolk at day 19/20 is already feeding off that supplement. I'd also like to add that any animal, including humans can "live off their last meal" for three days. That doesn't mean that it is in our best interest.

The majority of chicks I have hatched are usually drinking water w/in hours of hatch. Usually within 24 hours a good share of them are pecking and learning to eat the crumbles. I plan to monitor the chicks of this years hatch to see if there is a correlation between the size of the chick's belly at hatch (assuming the bigger the belly the more recent the yolk absorption) to how quickly it decides to eat. I know that of the many chicks I hatched some had rather full bellies while other's were much flatter. Logistically one could hypothesize that the chicks with the smaller bellies have absorbed the yolk at an earlier time and will be wanting to find substance quicker than those hatched with a fuller belly and later yolk absorption.