URGERT: Chick pretty much fully zipped but not hatching.

[lavendermarie]

I noticed a pip on this egg around 9:45 am. It’s currently 1:37 pm and the chick has looked like this for maybe an hour? It’s trying to hatch out of the egg but it’s so clearly struggling. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know if it’s stuck and I should help it? Here are some pictures. The red circled area seems to be it’s beak. By the way, it’s currently day 24 so I was wondering could that have anything to do with what’s going on?

 

[lavendermarie]

I noticed a pip on this egg around 9:45 am. It’s currently 1:37 pm and the chick has looked like this for maybe an hour? It’s trying to hatch out of the egg but it’s so clearly struggling. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know if it’s stuck and I should help it? Here are some pictures. The red circled area seems to be it’s beak. By the way, it’s currently day 24 so I was wondering could that have anything to do with what’s going on?

 

[SilverBirds]

You can quickly pull the shell off him.

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

Just take the shell off. He may not realize he is hatched, but he'll get it eventually.

 

[Egg Blues]

If you pull the shell off, do so carefully. If the chick is still absorbing any of the yolk and/or still has some blood vessels exterior to its body, you could damage the chick by rushing things. The chick is probably just resting, though. It is not uncommon for chicks to be very tired after the zip. Usually they will push all the way out before resting, but if this is day 24, this is not a usual case already. Was your incubator temperature a little on the low side? That may have influenced the hatch date.

 

[lavendermarie]

UPDATE: I ended up helping the chick out of the egg, it turns out the membrane was pretty stuck to it’s head which I kind of suspected as that’s where it looked like it was struggling to get out from. So far it’s doing pretty well! Tired and resting, but it’s in the incubator now and it’s breathing seems fine and it’s chirping a bit. Thank you everyone for your help and advice!!

 

[lavendermarie]

If you pull the shell off, do so carefully. If the chick is still absorbing any of the yolk and/or still has some blood vessels exterior to its body, you could damage the chick by rushing things. The chick is probably just resting, though. It is not uncommon for chicks to be very tired after the zip. Usually they will push all the way out before resting, but if this is day 24, this is not a usual case already. Was your incubator temperature a little on the low side? That may have influenced the hatch date.

The temperature for the most part was pretty stable at 37.9 celsius. I believe that was slightly lower than recommended, but a bantam egg in there hatched on day 19 and a standard sized on day 20, so overall both dates seemed normal if not early. I’m not sure what happened to this one but I guess it was a bit stuck and now it’s out and seems to be recovering from that whole exhausting process nicely after being helped!