when to take babies out

[ihavechicks]

I had 3 hatch yesterday and last night. I still have 1 more pipped egg. How long can I leave the babies in the incubator? I don't want to open it until that last egg hatches. Today is day 22.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I had 3 hatch yesterday and last night. I still have 1 more pipped egg. How long can I leave the babies in the incubator? I don't want to open it until that last egg hatches. Today is day 22.

The "experts" will tell you that chicks can stay in the bator for up to 3 days because of the yolk absorption. I personally do not leave my babies in the bator. I prefer them in the brooder eating/drinking with in 12 hours. It's all a personal preference and should be based on comfort level and the levels of humidity in your bator.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I take mine out once they get their balance and are active. I don't like them to totally dry out and spike the humidity. I try to keep the humidity down to 65% so lifting one side and taking out damp birds aids in that.

Also I've had a few bird put heads up in fan so don't let them run around in there for too long. Come to think about it I should put a guard on that before mine start to hatch.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I take mine out once they get their balance and are active. I don't like them to totally dry out and spike the humidity. I try to keep the humidity down to 65% so lifting one side and taking out damp birds aids in that.

Also I've had a few bird put heads up in fan so don't let them run around in there for too long. Come to think about it I should put a guard on that before mine start to hatch.

That is exactly why I started pulling mine as soon as they started getting mobile instead of waiting for them to dry a bit more. My last hatch I had 2 get hurt on the fan. The first just chipped it's beak a bit, but the second almost scalped himself. I have always pulled mine as they started drying and I had a few in there because I don't personally think it's beneficial to make them go w/o food and water, but now I don't even wait until they are half dry. If they are active...they are out!

 

[timbowsr]

I'm no expert on hatching, just recently done my first two hatches. I have a homemade incubator and my eggs/chicks sit in a basket with no possible way of them getting to the fan. On my last hatch we split the basket down the center so that we could keep some eggs from different breeds separate. My nephew took his chicks out as soon as he had three or four in the basket, I took mine out at about 24 to 30 hours. The only thing I noticed different is that the ones left in the incubator seemed to fluff up better and the ones taken out earlier ... although they too eventually fluffed up as well, seemed to have a few matted feathers and took a bit longer to fluff up. I'm assuming this was because of the fan moving the air in the incubator. Again, no expert and have wondered about this myself.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm no expert on hatching, just recently done my first two hatches. I have a homemade incubator and my eggs/chicks sit in a basket with no possible way of them getting to the fan. On my last hatch we split the basket down the center so that we could keep some eggs from different breeds separate. My nephew took his chicks out as soon as he had three or four in the basket, I took mine out at about 24 to 30 hours. The only thing I noticed different is that the ones left in the incubator seemed to fluff up better and the ones taken out earlier ... although they too eventually fluffed up as well, seemed to have a few matted feathers and took a bit longer to fluff up. I'm assuming this was because of the fan moving the air in the incubator. Again, no expert and have wondered about this myself.

I find that my chicks fluff up better under the brooder light than in my incubator.(Little Giant) I keep my humidity up at hatch so that when I open the incubator I am not jeopardizing my others and the higher humidity doesn't help with fluffiness. Once they are in the brooder though, they fluff right up.

 

[timbowsr]

Hmmmm. Here in Louisiana, the outside humidity usually runs betwen 90 and 100% and that would of been higher than my incubator humidity. Not sure what it was inside the brooder though because I never checked. I know I can open my incubator for a full minute and my humidity never drops more that 2 or 3%, of course that's not the same for temp. I have chicks in the brooder now and will check humidity in it this evening ... now I'm curious.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hmmmm. Here in Louisiana, the outside humidity usually runs betwen 90 and 100% and that would of been higher than my incubator humidity. Not sure what it was inside the brooder though because I never checked. I know I can open my incubator for a full minute and my humidity never drops more that 2 or 3%, of course that's not the same for temp. I have chicks in the brooder now and will check humidity in it this evening ... now I'm curious.

I think a lot of it has to do with the brooder light itself. That thing keeps our air dry and the room HOT. I have my special needs roo's quarters in there as well as two of my pullets that are waiting for me to finish the coop and I have to run a fan toward their area so that they have cool air. Also with the incubators I would think that 75% humidity in a small closed up space would have a much more profound and direct result on it's inhabitants that 75% humidity in a natural environment.

 

[chick-adee]

I prefer to keep them in the incubator for 6-12 hours-ish. You can do it up to three days but they can get hurt in the incubator and hurt other eggs.