1 egg hatched...1 pipped...Lots to Go....HELP!?!

[Shogun99]

All,

I am having a conundrum (fancy word for problem). I have one chick hatched, and one of them has pipped. Here's the issue. The one that pipped hasn't made much progress since 6am this morning and the one that hatched is running around and knocking some eggs on their sides.

My question is IS it ok for the little one to be doing that, and when should I render assistance to the one that has pipped? Today is Day 21 for me and I don't want to jump the gun, but I don't want to NOT do something and let the baby chick potentially die in its shell either (its one of my Japanese Banty's).

So...when should I render assistance, and when should I take the one that hatched out of the bator? 24 hours? 36 hours? 48 hours?

Any advice would be VERY well received.

 

[Mahonri]

That's why many folks have both incubators and 'hatchers', that way you can take the chicks out of the bator and keep them warm in a 'hatcher'/brooder.

 

[burntumber]

I move by babies to a brooder as soon as they're fluffy downy looking (no longer wet with caked feathers.) Usually within about an hour or so of hatching. Once there are a handful of chicks in the brooder, you can move newly hatched peeps straight to the brooder. The other chicks will snuggle with it. Don't worry about the eggs getting rolled around. It's day 21 and by now they will either hatch or they won't regardless of positioning.

You can try assisting the unhatched chick, but it probably won't survive without intensive care over the next few days. Even then, you'll most likely lose it. (Learned this the hard way.) I've learned that if they're not strong enough to hatch, they aren't strong enough to survive to adulthood. A friend of mine has a midas touch with this category of chicks and has managed to save her fair share. But I have terrible luck with them.

 

[hinkjc]

You might want to read the "read me's on hatching" stickied to the top of the forum. They are very helpful and offer insight from all perspectives. Good luck.

Jody

 

[Heather J]

Also, remember it can easily take two days from the time of first pip until they are out of the shell, that's perfectly normal, so don't jump the gun. Monitor the baby and see what happens, but don't stress. (Easy to say, I know. lol) A lot of people won't remove chicks if another egg is piped because it can make the lining stick to the chick that hasn't hatched yet. You'll have to decide what to do. We've only successfully hatched once, and I wasn't home. DH finally put a wash cloth into the bator for the chick to snuggle up to because I expected it to be at least another day so the brooder wasn't set up. it might not hurt when you pull this one or two out to put a cloth in for the next few to snuggle on until you open the bator again. Just don't open it much since it can stop a hatch completely if the humidity gets too far down.

 

[Akane]

They can sit awhile after pipping. I had some japs take 2 days from pip to zipping. If your incubator recovers quickly you can remove the chick however opening the incubator now if it doesn't recover quickly may kill your entire hatch. If possible wait until the rest at least pip. Having a chick in the incubator peeping and banging around actually causes the other chicks to hatch faster. There's been no proof that getting knocked around in the eggs keeps the others from hatching. I try to prevent it if possible but I've yet to see any proof and so far every time I open my hovabator I lose any chicks that haven't pipped yet so I leave them alone until several have hatched.

I would help only after there have been no other chicks making progress for 24hrs. If the others are still hatching that one may just have pipped early and need more time to absorb the yolk.

 

[Shogun99]

UPDATE:

The baby who had pipped...Hatched about an hour ago! After about 5-6 hours, it figured out what it had to do on its own and started zipping. Hooray for Mother Nature! Now just if the others will start doing the same!

2 Down....about 18 to go!

 

[steffpeck]

I am so happy that your egg hatched!! Please keep us updated, and show us pics!!

 

[HuestisFarm]

Congrats!

Best of luck to you having more healthy babies soon!!

And as steffpeck said --- pics, please!