When should i move the baby chicken?

Question

I was hatching 3 eggs in a miny incubator. there wasnt enough room for them to stay in there so i moved them to a box with a light. The temperature is 100. One hatched at about 9:30 last nite; the other hatched at about 9 this morning. Whem should i move them both to the their new box? How long should I wait to give them food and water? The older 1 was pecking at the little one so i put up a divider. was that ok?

thanks

Answer 1

You can move them right away.  Give them some chick mash, just sprinkled on the floor of the box at first, and access to water as soon as you move them.  This will give them something to peck at rather than each other.  After a few days they should be able to get their feed from a feeder or a small container.  I wouldn't worry too much about the younger chick.  He probably just has a piece of egg shell stuck to him.  If you can't just flick it off easily leave it alone in it will come off by it's self soon.  They are not attached by an umbilical cord like young born and not hatched.  Good luck with your chicks.

Answer 2

Moving immediately is good, so you can better control their environment and provide needed water and food, water especially. You should show them how to drink if you have not seen for absolute certainty that they have. And help is OK to remove some shell, we ain't the cruel hand of nature here. Pecking will probably stop when they get full bellies but needs to be watched. Sometimes that can be an issue with too small a space to be in, but watch it.

Answer 3

Actually they do have an umbilicus, which connects them to the yolk in the egg, and to the blood supply in the membrane under the shell by which they breathe before hatching.  Be very gentle indeed with it, as it can leak blood and yolk, and the chick may die.

Occasionally in weaker chicks it fails to seal.  If there's just a little bit showing, you can sometimes massage it into the hole, and it will seal OK.  If a longer piece is sticking out, try to give it a chance to dry out, then snip it off -- take great care not to pull it, and don't let the chick do so (it can get stuck to the ground -- if possible get it to stick to the chick).

The chicks should not need separating -- give the older one some food, as that's what it's after.  They can cope for a day or so without food and water, especially if they are not too warm and are a bit "sleepy", as the umbilicus one may be.  Water is more important at first, and sometimes you can get them interested by dripping a little on their beak.

Any sign of the third egg pipping?  May be worth candling it to see if it developed.  First, make sure you keep it the right way up -- the chick prefers to hatch upwards, and if you turn the egg over it will waste time wriggling round again (this is why you should not turn them in the last week).  Then make the egg show through a hole in your hand, and shine a bright torch through it from beneath.  If it glows brightly, it did not develop and is no good.  If dark, it either developed, or became infected and died.  Put it against your ear and listen for cheeping or movement.  If nothing, try shaking it from end to end -- any sloshing indicates it's addled and dead.  Also smell it -- it ought to smell of nothing much or a bit eggy -- bad-egg or corpse smells are not a good sign (though these smells may have come from another egg if you had more than three earlier).  Otherwise, put it back and wait some more -- remember, right way up.

If you get a chick which pips but does not hatch, you can sometimes help them, but be very patient indeed.  The chick needs a few hours rest between pipping and hatching for the blood to be drawn back from the membrane -- hurrying will cause bleeding in the membrane and the chick will die anyway.  Peel a tiny bit of shell at a time, starting from the pipping point.

Good luck with your chicks!