1 Pipped at wrong end, should I help???***Update added to orig post!!!

[sharon_k]

One little chick pipped at the wrong end, and has not made progress all day- pip was this morning- could have been earlier, but I was really looking at the other ends of the eggs for any signs of pipping so I could have looked over it I guess. Anyway, there is a hole so the chick can breathe, but chick has not made progress at all. I have to say that this chick's peeps are the loudest I've ever heard coming from an incubator! I don't know if it's just strong and going to come out soon, or if it's asking for help. I know it's totally normal to have a pip and then nothing for 24 hours, then they come out full force (as some in this hatch have done) so I don't want to intervene, but since this little one is in the wrong position I don't know if it's got a chance to get out on its own....

What do you think???

***Update: Just want to add I peeked in on the egg (through bator window using flashlight so I can get a bit of a look at what's going on in the hole in the shell) there are these 2 things moving along with the beak that I cannot recognize as feet, they look like 2 sticks moving, a yellow creamy color?? PLEASE tell me this chick is not horribly deformed, that's what I am thinking

The type of chicken is a Phoenix...don't know if that helps. The phoenix eggs I put in my incubator this time around are for a friend/neighbor- from her chickens...she gave me the silkie eggs I wanted, for free, b/c I am doing her a favor of hatching her Phoenix eggs. I know she had mentioned something about a lethal gene and tufts and that some can die in the shells before they hatch, but I don't know anything about this and I don't know if it has to do with what I'm seeing.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

I'm not suggesting what you should do, I'll just share a recent experience of mine with you. It may or may not have any bearing on your situation. I think it may just illustrate the point that these things are judgment calls and you should really just follow your instincts.
I had 4 eggs in the bator last weekend. Three had pipped. The second one to pip hadn't made any progress at all in about 16 hours after the other two had already hatched, so I helped a little bit. I think it was premature to have done so b/c there was some unabsorbed blood remaining in the membrane. It wasn't as perky as the others when they first hatched b/c it needed to compensate for the blood loss and recoup its energy. I felt awful but still think it was the right thing to have done as I believe she was in trouble.

Then, there was the fourth egg. 24 hours after the other three chicks hatched, it still had not pipped externally. HOWEVER, it was cheeping noisily inside the shell around 7am. I figured it was fine as long as it was making noises and I'd give it a little while. We left to run some errands for about two hours and came back. No cheeping. I decided to go in. It had expired and I don't know why. I'm pretty new to hatching. This was only my fourth batch but it looked like a perfectly mature chick to me with no obvious deformities. I wish I had helped earlier.

I would say to trust your instincts and whatever happens, happens. Darned if you do and darned if you don't sometimes.
Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Personally, yes. I would help it. There's simply not enough room for movement at the small end of the egg. Kind of like trying to squeeze an egg or a baby out butt first. It'll get stuck. Some may make it, but many need help.

 

[Hennypen]

I would help it. I helped my upside down chick in my first hatch.

After there was no progress for 24 hours I took the incubator into a steamy bathroom and slowly chipped away the shell. There is the shell, a heavy white membrane, and a very very very thin membrane surrounding the chick. You need to watch that thin membrane so it doesn't shrink wrap.

I chipped away a zip line aand far enough down so the chick could get its feet on the edge to push out. My chick is just fine and I can't tell which one it was now. He/she was healthy just upside down.

Good luck!

 

[sharon_k]

Thanks everyone. I do want to help but I am tentative- I don't want to make it worse. Also I am afraid if I help and it lives, that it's going to have something wrong with it. Is there a reason it could have not turned correctly? At first when I saw it (I was shining a flashlight through the bator's window so I could see into the hole in the shell) I thought it was twins b/c I saw the chick's beak and then something else that looked like another beak. Upon a closer look it seems to be something that is dried, maybe a piece of the yolk? So for now, I took a warm damp paper towel and put it around the egg slightly. The chick peeps occasionally, and when it does it is VERY loud, more like when a chick is in distress, not a hatching peeping...will keep posted. Otherwise this hatch did very well, there's still one more hatching then we're done

 

[sharon_k]

please read update...i also see chick breathing but don't see any "wet fluff" it looks like a bare chest????

 

[dragonchick]

I saw this also and determined it was the chicks feet. The feet were laying along side just under the head and helping to move the chick around within the shell.

 

[sharon_k]

I am SO happy! Chick just hatched a few minutes ago. What I saw that looked funny was the fluff on the chick, dried into a couple pieces. And yes the feet were curled up under its head. The air pocket was at the base of the egg, where it should be and somehow the chick just never turned right. Last night I decided not to help it, and I was a little discouraged this morning when I saw it hadn't made any progress from late last night. But then shortly after I had my morning coffee, the chick got down to business and zipped all around the top of the egg, and pushed itself out. I am going to save the egg to show my friend, as I am hatching this Phoenix chick for her.....just one more chicky on its way out and the hatch is done!

 

[halo]

Thats terrific news. Sometimes you just have to give Mother Nature the reins and let her drive; she usually knows what she's doing. I pretty much dont help chicks anymore, unless its an obvious case where a chick has zipped halfway and is stuck due to me having the humidity too high.

 

[Hennypen]

Like I said earlier, I helped my upside down chick and it's perfectly healthy now. I would never not help one in this position if its still chipping after 24 hours. I can't tell which one it is now. The only odd thing was because of its upside down position (I was hatching in egg cartons) it was more floppy than the other chicks in the first 6 hours after hatching. But soon righted itself after that.

Maybe the airsac was too small and there was no room to turn. That wouldn't be a reason not to help the chick out.