Anxious Father expecting today with a question

[ls430fl]

Hi all!
day 21 for 3 out of my 10 eggs. Day 19 for the other 7. Last night at 12:00 I noticed one of my day 21 eggs had a hole in it! Yayy!! I went to sleep and woke up this morning but didn't see much progress yet. I know it is just now day 21 so I am not worried I don't see any holes in any other eggs but this one I am because I don't see progress...Should I be worried? It is my first hatch! Thank you all

 

[Ridgerunner]

Anything you try to do now will probably cause more harm than good. Be patient.

Not all eggs hatch at exactly 21 days. There are a lot of different things that can cause this, heredity, humidity, how and how long they are stored before you start incubating, and the average incubating temperature. Even under a broody hen they are occasionally a couple of days early or late. Broody hens normally do a better job than we do with incubators.

There is a lot going on when an egg is hatching. The chick has to learn to breathe in air instead of a liquid environment, absorb the yolk, dry up unneeded blood vessels and absorb that blood, plus do a lot of work moving into position. Sometimes it just rests. Some chicks do a lot of this before external pip. These pop out within a few hours of external pip. Some do a lot between external pip and zip. These can take a really long time, sometimes more than a day. There is no set rule for this. If you try to help one before it is ready, you will likely kill it. It is really hard to know when to help.

Some chicks make it this far and just quit. Some just don’t make it. There are no guarantees with this stuff. But a hugely vast majority of chicks that make it this far do make it, even the ones that are slow to come out after pip. We’ve all been through it. I know it’s rough, but that chick’s best chance is if you leave it alone.

Good luck with it.

 

[ls430fl]

Thank you for your response! I do hear chirping and the egg is wobbling so I don't think it has quit just yet!

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

I've hatched out at least 250+ chicks the past 3 yrs, my experience has been that a chick seldom zips sooner than 12 hrs after pip. Often times it's 18-24 hrs later. Don't worry you should get more pips today. The one that has pipped is not ready to zip yet--he should be fine! Keep us posted!

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

PS__I've had many a chick peep in shell 12-18 hrs before pipping--it's not unusual.

 

[CarolinaHen]

Just leave them alone. Hatching is hard work and the chick will need to take naps during the hatching process. It takes a long time to absorb all of the yolk and dry up the veins. Being patient and not stepping in to help too soon is the most difficult part of hatching.

 

[ls430fl]

Thank you all for the replies! I feel much better now. I'm not going to help them, just wanted to make sure it was normal to not be out of the shell in a few hours for some eggs. A few more are wobbling so I'm excited!

 

[CarolinaHen]

Post pics when they hatch!

 

[ls430fl]

I sure will! Made some small progress on the first egg. Hole is a little bigger now. The little guy is still chirping and wobbling inside.

 

[ls430fl]

This is 19 hours into it...making a little progress. The thing still chirps and wobbles the egg. Maybe it just needs more time!