Ok....I have baby chicks in the incubator....my first time.....my first one is trying to hatch...she has been at it for several hours now and still has just one hole and sticks her beak out and chirps.....should I let her be or help her out?
Let it be.... you can make them bleed out by helping.... if they can't get out on their own then they wouldn't live more than a day or 2 anyways as there is something wrong with them ( I learned this the hard way) Have fun with your new babies!!!! How many eggs do you have in there?
Thanks Jess.....I was just reading some info on the "backyard chicken forum".....I have a dozen.....today is the 21st day and I only have 1 trying to hatch.....I was given the eggs by my neighbor and I have no idea how long they sat before I got them as I was out of town....so I may not have many hatch......7 are little Cochins and 3 are Guineas......I really hope at least a few hatch! This is my first time to ever try this.....it is so exciting....my grown flock was 2 days old when I recieved them and they are all now over 2yrs old.
Allison....I think it might be an antique :greengrin: ....it is my neighbors.....it is made by Sears & Roebuck, so that tells ya how old it is! It is a metal circular looking thing, the top lifts off and has a heating element in the top and a pan in the bottom for the water......it is pretty primitive.....but hey if it does the job! I think they bought it at an auction.
yep, never help out a chick, they can do it! I've hatched them before too, most were a day late, but all survived!!
Thanks all! It is so hard to resist the temptation of wanting to help them......I hope I wake up to the sounds of happy chirps in the morning!
Yup, just let them be. Don't even open the incubator. In fact, that's a big no-no. If you open it, you can cause the membranes in the eggs to stick to the chicks, and they can die. Once my chicks start hatching, I DO NOT open the incubator until they're done. I also never help chicks. I have found that MOST chicks that need help to get out die anyways. Also, your incubator sounds like an old metal Brower. I used to have a few..good incubators. I use an Brisnea Eco 20 now.
Let them be. The only time I help mine out is when they are fully out and the shell is still stuck to their back.
:clap: :clap: :clap: My first baby hatched! She is still in the incubator.....I just wish some others would start hatching.
Congrats! Nothin like a brand new lil fuzzy butt I will offer another point of view on helping chicks out, tho... I do believe in helping them... and of the ones I've helped (prolly around 10) I've only had 1 die, and it died about a week later. Several of them turned out to be the biggest chicks in the batch -- they just basically grew too big for the shell and didn't have room to kick and turn around. And a few others had just been stuck on the membrane (dried out) and couldn't move. I've even helped out chicks that had been incubated by a broody so I know it's not just my mistake with humidity. BUT, that said, I never help a chick until after all the others that were trying to hatch had already hatched. Because I wouldn't want to endanger the other chicks. And then I only do it if it's been over 24 hours since the stuck chick pipped (broke the shell) because by that time it's pretty certain that it's already absorbed all the yolk (and won't bleed to death when you try and help it). Just my experience... everyone's different! btw, I use a tweezers to flake off the egg, a wet Q-tip and paper towel to keep the membrane moist, and a heat lamp to keep the lil guy warm.
