Pip question

[mestaske]

After the first pip how long should it take for the chick to get out? Also, how can you tell if an chick has died inside. If it is a white egg will there be blood on the outside visible? I had my first pip this morning and so far no more. I can hear the chick inside but I don't see it trying to get out. Thanks.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

After the intial pip, it can take 24 hrs for the chick to hatch. I always take note on the time and then wait. After 24 hrs, I begin to help, because they start drying out. Some don't help. This becomes your judgement call. Good luck.

 

[Suechick]

As long as you keep your incubator closed, and the humidity up you're doing fine. Chicks aren't ready to hatch right away when they pip. A day or so before hatch they start to absorb the left over yolk in through their navel and the blood vessels that they used for oxygen are absorbed too. While this is happening the chick stops getting its oxygenation from external blood circulation in embryonic development. It must start to breath through its lungs, and so it pips, getting its beak out of the fluid and into the air, but it has to finish yolk absorbtion and close the navel before it is ready to come out of the egg.

It is crazy nerve wracking though. The longest day is the day before a hatch!

Hatching thoughts your way!! Fuzzy Butts by tomorrow.