helping a chick out of shell that has not pipped

Hello everyone! I have never posted a question because you all are so wonderful, I normally find my answers without having to ask! I am fairly new to hatching chicken eggs in an incubator. My first two hatches went quite well but it seems I have lost my touch! If you have candled the eggs and they look normal and healthy, should you ever poke a hole in the egg to help them out? My last hatch was 5 days late so, I put a tiny hole in the big end. Most of them were shrink wrapped. I saved some and some were already dead! The ones I did save came out fine and developed normally! This hatch is only one day late but I am already worried that they may be shrink wrapped! Any advice??

You should not candle an egg after day 18 when you stop turning and raise the humidity. That will cause shrink wrapped chicks and failure to pip. If you are having these issues without opening the bator then you need to up the humidity. They will hatch on their own once you get the humidity up. Trying to hatch a chick that hasn't pipped is very difficult and you'll lose far more chicks than if you just up the humidity and wait.

What kind of incubator do you have and how are you managing your humidity?

Oh, hun! It is so hard to not help, but when these fine folks say to leave it alone, they aren't kidding. My hubby and I recently had our second hatch. Throughout the process, everything seemed spot on. The temp and humidity looked great, the babies were developing. Then we only had one hatch and a few pip. We could tell that two of the pips weren't doing so well and appeared to be drowning.

My husband quickly removed the egg and very gently zipped for it about 80% of the way around. He quickly placed it back in and the chick popped right out and seemed great. I already had the sole hatcher in the brooder fluffed and happy. When the 2nd had dried and I placed him in, he started viciously attacking the 1st chick! He made her bleed! I quickly removed him and placed him in a small box in the brooder to let him gather himself. I got them some Poly Vi Sol for a boost. When I went to pick him up, he felt like a water balloon! It was everything in me not to scream and drop him! He couldn't breathe, suddenly, and died. He hadn't developed right...we should have left well enough alone.

It is tragic to think that you could have done more, but it really does seem to be the case: if they can't hatch themselves, they weren't meant to be. Now, there are going to be exceptions to this, but you shouldn't have to do this as routine for hatching.

Thank you so much! I knew you all would know best! I am using a Little Giant incubator and I have added some sponges to raise the humidity! I guess now I will wait and see! Thank you all and have a wonderful day!

Yes it is hard not to help especially something as helpless as a tiny chick. I'm guilty of it as well from time to time lol.
I use LGs as well and use a syringe attatched to aquarium tubing to add water to the sponges when needed during the hatch. One thing I have learned that I think helps is to make sure to calibrate the hygrometer before each hatch. Sometimes they can be way off even if they were ok the time before.

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It is so hard to not help. I've helped dozens of chicks. I've had some that died just days later...seeming just fine after helping. I've had some that we had to cull because of serious deformities. And sometimes that weak chick will grow up to be a weak adult. There have been so many chicks I've helped, that I'm thankful I helped. But there are a few you wish you let nature just take it's course.

A hatch that is 5 days late...makes me think the temp is too low! If I recall the LG (no fan) incubator should be around 102 degrees. You will notice posts where people are putting their eggs into "lockdown"...which means they will not open the incubator until hatch...day 17 or 18 they go in...day 20 to 22 they hatch. Don't open it. You will find people have tweaked their humidity and temps to suit them. What is good for one is not always going to be good for another. Inside/outside temps and humidity will affect your incubation. Having a hydrometer helps, so you don't make it TOO humid. I have a hydrometer w/ a thermometer that I got from Walmart for $7. I use an extra thermometer to compare it too...it has been accurate. I hate the word "practice" when you are dealing with a living creature, but through practice incubating you will find what works for you. Through mistakes you will learn. I have 2 cheap LG models w/ turners. That's all. We've hatched 100's of eggs. We are at a 90% success rate. We started at 50%, went down to 30%, and have finally found what works for us earlier this summer.

Best of luck to you.

Ok, I'm new to this- what is, "Pip"? Hole in the egg, or peeping from inside the egg?

I'm having an issue with two that have pipped through internally but not through the shell! idono what to do since the first batch all went through perfect!

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I use the Little Giant too and love it. I hatched 27 chicks out of it this summer, but every day i made sure to pour water in the trenches. the humidity is soooo important and i agree that if the humidity is low that is what is causing the shrink wrap.