How long to leave chicks in the incubator

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ldrchickens

ldrchickens

Songster
Jul 1, 2018
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Oklahoma
My Coop
My Coop
Hey guys. My third hatch is in the progress of hatching. For some reason all three of my hatches take longer then 24 hours to complete is this normal? My thermometer for the first round was wrong so they were hoter then should be and all started three days early. The last one and this one was right with new thermomters and started on the right date. Still all three take 2 days atleast. The first one i took chicks out as they dried and no issues. The last one i did the same thing but had several that died before making it out and i think that was in my part. So on this hatch im scared to take the chicks out as they dry. My question is they started piping Friday night and started making it out yesterday morning. Today there are 10 or so that are completely dry but still several hatching. How much longer can i wait to pull the chicks out before the ones that have hatch start suffering? I dont want to hurt the hatched ones but i also dont want to risk the ones still hatching. TIA!
 
ldrchickens said:
How much longer can i wait to pull the chicks out before the ones that have hatch start suffering?
Click to expand...
Chicks hatch with enough yolk to sustain them for 3 days after hatch. Ideally I don't leave them more than 2.

If I take chicks out during lock down... I drape towels around the lid and my arms to trap the humidity and heat and prevent the shrink wrap effect. Usually the hardest thing is watching the earlier hatchers' play soccer with the remaining pips.

To keep my hatch frame tight... I move my eggs around to a new spot inside the bator (or turner) once every day.. to combat any uneven temps that might give more or less development. This made a HUGE difference... and I usually have new eggs set or the bator unplugged by day 23 now!

It could also be relative to storage in my research... each day of holding is said to add one hour to hatch time. :confused:

Do you already have this resource...
https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

It's one of my faves! :fl

:jumpy:jumpy
 
First some standard stuff. The chicks absorb the yolk before they hatch. They can live of of that yolk for three days or more. That's why they can be shipped in the mail. So those chicks should not have died because of lack or food or water.


The first one i took chicks out as they dried and no issues. The last one i did the same thing but had several that died before making it out and i think that was in my part.

Not sure why this was in your part? What does this mean? Were the ones that died already hatched and just slow to dry off or were they still in the shell and became shrink-wrapped? That's two different things to look at.

It sounds like you didn't do anything different between the first or second hatches other than adjust the incubating temperature to get it closer to correct, which I consider a good thing. Do you know humidities during incubation and during lockdown? It's normal for humidity to jump a lot after a few chicks hatch from the moisture they add to the air.

Some of my broody hen hatches and some of my incubator hatches are over in less than 24 hours from the first one hatching. Some of my broody hen hatches and incubator hatches drag out like yours did. I've had them go into the third day. I can never tell ahead of time how it will turn out.

You had some pip Friday night and hatch Saturday morning. Under normal circumstances, I'd be very comfortable waiting 72 hours (three days) after pip, which means Monday night.
 
EggSighted4Life said:
Chicks hatch with enough yolk to sustain them for 3 days after hatch. Ideally I don't leave them more than 2.

If I take chicks out during lock down... I drape towels around the lid and my arms to trap the humidity and heat and prevent the shrink wrap effect. Usually the hardest thing is watching the earlier hatchers' play soccer with the remaining pips.

To keep my hatch frame tight... I move my eggs around to a new spot inside the bator (or turner) once every day.. to combat any uneven temps that might give more or less development. This made a HUGE difference... and I usually have new eggs set or the bator unplugged by day 23 now!

It could also be relative to storage in my research... each day of holding is said to add one hour to hatch time. :confused:

Do you already have this resource...
https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

It's one of my faves! :fl

:jumpy:jumpy
Click to expand...
Thank you i will rotatw them on this next hatch to see if that helps!
 
Ridgerunner said:
First some standard stuff. The chicks absorb the yolk before they hatch. They can live of of that yolk for three days or more. That's why they can be shipped in the mail. So those chicks should not have died because of lack or food or water.


The first one i took chicks out as they dried and no issues. The last one i did the same thing but had several that died before making it out and i think that was in my part.

Not sure why this was in your part? What does this mean? Were the ones that died already hatched and just slow to dry off or were they still in the shell and became shrink-wrapped? That's two different things to look at.

It sounds like you didn't do anything different between the first or second hatches other than adjust the incubating temperature to get it closer to correct, which I consider a good thing. Do you know humidities during incubation and during lockdown? It's normal for humidity to jump a lot after a few chicks hatch from the moisture they add to the air.

Some of my broody hen hatches and some of my incubator hatches are over in less than 24 hours from the first one hatching. Some of my broody hen hatches and incubator hatches drag out like yours did. I've had them go into the third day. I can never tell ahead of time how it will turn out.

You had some pip Friday night and hatch Saturday morning. Under normal circumstances, I'd be very comfortable waiting 72 hours (three days) after pip, which means Monday night.
Click to expand...
Sorry i shouls have worded that differently. The chicks that hatched did not die. It was the chicks that pipped the eggs and never hatched that died. One was alive and i opened the egg to get him out but he was weel and died a few hours later. The humidity during incubation is around 40 and letting drop to 20 before adding more water. Someone here told me that is that good to do? The humidity during hatch is never lower then 70. My broody hens were all done after 24 hours.
 
Ridgerunner said:
It sounds like you didn't do anything different between the first or second hatches other than adjust the incubating temperature to get it closer to correct, which I consider a good thing.
Click to expand...
Yes, and successfully since they started on the correct day!

I agree and sounds like those who didn't make it... weren't going to.

I have even had some hatch all the way and not make it. :hmm

Come on strong babies! :jumpy:jumpy
 
It was the chicks that pipped the eggs and never hatched that died. One was alive and i opened the egg to get him out but he was weel and died a few hours later.

You said you were opening the incubator to take chicks out as they dried. Sometimes you can do that and not have problems. Sometimes the unhatched chicks get shrink-wrapped. That's when the incubator gets so dry that the membrane surrounding the chick dries out and shrinks around the chick. When you open the incubator to take a chick out, some humidity escapes. If those unhatched chicks had a dry white membrane around them then this is a possible reason. Or there could be some other reason they pipped but did not finish hatching. That's what ES4L was talking about trying to prevent the humidity from escaping.

There is a risk to opening the incubator when eggs are pipping. If I have an emergency inside the incubator that I need to deal with I open the incubator and deal with it. But unless I have an emergency I leave it closed until the hatch is over.
 

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