First time hatching!

[MrsGray1211]

Hey y’all! I’m incubating and hatching my first set of eggs! I set eight in my incubator, today is day 20. 4 have already successfully hatched, two more have pipped and I expect them to fully hatch in the next few hours.
So far I have not had any problems!

I have a couple questions though:
1) Since I have eggs that have pipped, I need to leave the already hatched chicks in the incubator until the pipped eggs have hatched, correct? My first hatch was at 5:30 last night. It is now 9:15 am. He/she will be okay in there a while longer right? What is the longest you would say is age to leave the chick in the incubator? I’m terrified my pipped eggs will get shrink wrapped

2) The eggs came from a Rhode Island Red hen and were fertilized by a Light Brahma rooster. Will the chicks be all RIR? All Brahma? Or potentially some of each breed?

Thanks in advance! Also, any other random advice you can share is appreciated!

 

[K0k0shka]

Congrats on your first hatch! Don't worry, opening the incubator quickly to take the hatchlings out isn't going to shrink wrap the others. Humidity spikes quite high once eggs start opening, so you've got enough of a buffer in there. I would say hatched chicks shouldn't stay in the incubator 2 days or longer. I once kept a chick in there for 2 days, and he developed pasty butt from dehydration (it's too hot in there for hatched chicks).

If the parents are two different breeds, then the chicks will all be a mix of those breeds. With animals it's a mix, not either or.

 

[mcdze]

im sure everything came out ok lol ... i never leave chicks in the incubator on a small batch - straight from the egg, wet, to the brooder under the light .. if the hatch is stretched out and several have fluffed up and moving around i'll fence a corner off with a piece of hardware cloth to put the new arrivals in so the others dont peck at them while they recover and dry ..

 

[MrsGray1211]

Thank you! Yes, everyone hatched successfully! 7 are in the brooder, but one little girl (I'm hoping for hens so they are all girls at this point lol) was getting picked on. She is still in the incubator drying out. I felt like she needed a little more TLC. So it is normal sometimes for the "older" chicks to pick on a new hatchling?

 

[K0k0shka]

Thank you! Yes, everyone hatched successfully! 7 are in the brooder, but one little girl (I'm hoping for hens so they are all girls at this point lol) was getting picked on. She is still in the incubator drying out. I felt like she needed a little more TLC. So it is normal sometimes for the "older" chicks to pick on a new hatchling?

Absolutely. They are curious and will pick and peck at anything, but especially at anything that looks different. A new hatchling is wet and different and merits further exploration, and their only means of exploring at that point is through pecking. When she dries up and starts looking more like them, they'll leave her alone.

 

[MrsGray1211]

If the parents are two different breeds, then the chicks will all be a mix of those breeds. With animals it's a mix, not either or.

So, does this mean that my chicks will be a mix of both in one chick, like a hybrid breed? Or of my eight chicks, some will be RIR some will be Brahma? I forgot I have a Blue Orpington hen also that had eggs in the mix

 

[K0k0shka]

So, does this mean that my chicks will be a mix of both in one chick, like a hybrid breed? Or of my eight chicks, some will be RIR some will be Brahma? I forgot I have a Blue Orpington hen also that had eggs in the mix

Each will be a mix. So each chick will have genes for both breeds. You can't get single/pure breeds from crossing parents of two different breeds. Like with dogs. If you cross a labrador and a poodle, you get a bunch of labradoodles, not some labs and some poodles.

 

[MrsGray1211]

Okay that makes perfect sense! Thank you!!