When to Take Chicks Out of the Incubator

Leave them to dry first

A newly hatched chick is wet and tired. It absorbed the yolk just before hatching, so it needs no food or water for the first day. Leave chicks in the incubator until they are dry and fluffy, usually 6–24 hours. Opening the door during the hatch lets the humidity out and can shrink-wrap chicks that are still hatching.

When to open the incubator

• Once most chicks are dry, open it quickly, take out the dry chicks, and close it again.
• Do it once or twice a day, not every time a chick hatches.
• Remove chicks within about 24 hours of hatching (48 hours at the most) so they can start eating and drinking.
• Leave unhatched eggs in until day 23 for chickens. See how long eggs take to hatch.

Brooder basics

Move chicks to a draught-free brooder with a heat source, clean bedding, chick feed and shallow water. A common guide is about 32–35 °C under the heat source in week one, dropping by about 3 °C a week until they are feathered. Watch the chicks: huddled under the heat means too cold, spread against the walls means too hot. Dip each beak in the water when you put them in.

An incubator is not a brooder: it is too small and too humid for growing chicks. For feeders and drinkers, see chicken feeders and poultry drinkers.

Clean the incubator for the next batch

Take out shells and fluff, wash trays, wipe the inside with disinfectant and let it dry with the door open. Then check how to use an incubator before setting the next batch.