[Stereo]

I've got 6 araucana eggs and 13 copper marans eggs hatching now in a Brinsea Octagon 20. The araucanas started hatching yesterday morning so 24 hours ago. They are all out and 4 of the Marans are out. Some more are pipping.

What we have done in the past is to whip of the lid and removed the hatched birds but we suspect that we have caused problems with the eggs still hatching due to sudden humidity loss. But we also want to get the hatched birds into the brooder.

What's the best approach here? Leave them longer? Take out the chicks and spray in some warm water?

[jaykay]

Take out the chicks and spray in some warm water?

That's what I'd do 

[chrismahon]

That's what I'd do as well, water at incubator temperature so not too warm. The hatchlings need to come out when dry and not before though. Leaving them in too long however risks them disturbing and disorientating those still hatching.

[cuckoomarans]

i leave my chicks in for   48 hours after they hatch,if you  stop any light getting into the  incubator chicks will stay still  and shoudnt affect the other eggs  . the rest will do them good and given a chance to absorb their yolk sac

[doganjo]

i leave my chicks in for   48 hours after they hatch,if you  stop any light getting into the  incubator chicks will stay still  and shoudnt affect the other eggs  . the rest will do them good and given a chance to absorb their yolk sac

I used to do it the other way, but last hatch was done this way and much more successful.

[Stereo]

Thanks for the comments. We decided to go for it in the end. None of the other eggs were unzipped and only one visibly pipped so we felt there was not too much risk. We whipped out the hatched ones and sprayed in some warm water. I also picked up another tip which is to get a new, clean cloth wet, roll it up and pop that in. So far so good as 1 more has hatched and 4 more have pipped so I'm hoping it's all OK.

Another reason we decided to do this is that the chicks were rolling the other eggs around. I recall our best ever hatch was when we used cut up egg boxes to make holders at lockdown which stopped the hatched chicks moving the unhatched eggs. Needs a bit more space in the incy but I might do that next time. I have also read that 48 hours is fine. So maybe the best way is to fix them in place, pointy end down and leave them to get on with it?