Guide to Assisted Hatching for All Poultry

Excellent in-depth article!
Should be made a sticky in the Incubation & Hatching Eggs Forum!

Thank you so much for this wonderful article and the pictures too. It has been a wealth of information for me today, as I have a chick trying to bust open on the side way away from the air sac. Fortunately it has turned its head finally towards the air sac. We may still need to assist, but now we know when and how to help if need be.

Thank you !

Brilliant, informative article. Thank you for taking the time to put this together.

Thanks for this excellent article. I'll be reading through it again with my second hatch.

Wow thanks

Have never had to assist, but I've read this article many times just in case!

Easily the best guide you can find for assisting during hatch.

Ok, I know this post is old, but my 13 yo son and I read your article, and just successfully assisted a coturnix quail chick out and s/he is doing great! Three eggs hatched two days ago. One was pipped, and was bruising like you showed, but sadly it never absorbed its yolk sac and was dead before we tried to assist. But this little fella made it with assistance! Thank you! We never would've tried without your instruction. There is one more pipped egg, but we will wait a bit to see if that one will work itself out.

This advice and instructions saved the life of my favorite duck. He hadn't hatched after 4 days and the mother pushed the egg out of the nest . His foot was wrapped around his head and he couldn't move to unzip. THANK YOU !

Brilliant suitable for everyone to understand. Thank you.

I would never have had my three call ducklings hatch without this post! I had to assist all four, I sadly lost one but am thankful for the other three! One was malpositioned and fighting for life, but I followed the advice here and his now fighting fit! Thanks so much!

This is my first time incubating eggs.
thank you so much for all the info!
I’m much more prepared for hatching time.

Excellent guide. I am definitely going to be referencing this in the future.

This article has helped me save countless baby chicks. It has all the necessary information to walk you through an assisted hatch and help you figure out if you should assist. It also expains malpositions, which I had trouble understanding until I read this. This is my go to for any hatching questions or worries I or any others may have. Thank you so much Pyxis! I am so grateful for this article. Here is my sweet little guy who would have died if it weren't for this. He was my first assisted hatch. He is the perfect protector for my hens.

A must read for anyone who wants to be prepared for hatching complications.
I read this article about 5 times before my first call hatch, and followed it to the letter. Thank goodness, because I needed the help! Fantastic article that prepared me for the real deal.

best guide ever for helping chicks get out when things go wrong...
saved several and they all turn out just great, even better, since they are so grateful.

I had to assist 3 of my chicks, this article truly saved them. One was head in the wrong end of the egg, one had excessive fluid coming out and couldn't breathe very well, and the last just got weak and stopped chirping. Many people seem to overreact about assisting chicks, and while I get there are risks, as long as you go slow and stop if you see ANY blood; you should be okay. Thank you again!

Saved my chicks!

I used these instructions and was able to hatch a chick successfully. Sadly, Valor had to be culled the day after Valentine's Day (the day after she hatched) due to birth deformeties, but that had nothing to do with the guide. This guide is very useful and I will use it next time I have the need and recommend it to anyone who is attempting assisted hatching.