Are chicks stuck?

[LynnaePB]

Good luck with your little one, I hope it finishes absorbing its yolk and blood vessels and will be able to get out alright on its own!

This is a really good article on assisted hatching.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

The chick should be alright despite losing a little blood, if it lost a lot it could affect it but losing just a little usually doesn't hurt. The above article has some really good tips to be able to tell if the chick is ready to come out.

If there are any active blood vessels it's not ready, if you see it making a sort of nibbling/eating motion with it's beak it's also not ready (they make the nibbling motion a lot when they are still absorbing the yolk, it's really important to pay attention to this sign since the blood vessels over the air cell can recede before the blood vessels lower down in the egg are absorbed and the yolk is fully absorbed). When the little one is ready hopefully it will be able to pop out on its own but if not you should be able to tell it wants out as it should start repeatedly striking out/upwards with its beak (often they'll start peeping more at this stage too but not always). Good luck!

 

[GoldpartridgeHen]

Looks like its matching a lot of those points.
It has a few blood vessels still, and is making a nibbling motion constantly.

Also, every minute or so it strikes upwards with its beak, although not breaking any part of the shell.

It is peeping constantly, and responds to a tap on the bator lid.
Hoping everything will be ok

Thanks for the help!

 

[LynnaePB]

That is good, hopefully it is getting close then, it sounds like it is doing good! I had one that was doing the same (was striking out every couple minutes) it had no visible blood vessels but it was still doing that nibbling thing, I thought it might be ready but when I took off a little shell it had a really big active blood vessel under the membrane where I removed the shell so I let it be until it stopped nibbling completely and started striking out every few seconds instead of minutes (which happened about 2-3 hours later). Everything turned out really well but ever since then I pay a lot more attention to the nibbling motion they do!

 

[GoldpartridgeHen]

9.30am for me, and the chick is still absorbing the yolk, obviously been working all night
is there a typical length of this process or does it vary a bit?

 

[LynnaePB]

I think it can vary by quite a bit. the baby peeping occasionally and responding to tapping on the incubator is a really good sign, it being so late it definitely has a greater chance of not making it but you are doing everything you can to help it along and give it the best chance. Twice I've had to assist chicks that were slower than the rest by a couple days (unlike yours they never externally pipped though), they both were extremely weak when they were finally ready to get out of the egg. After they hatched it took about 2 days of carefully giving electrolytes for them to start acting like a normal newly hatched chick but they pulled through and did great. If you had a cold spot and that is why the little one is late hopefully it'll just be a little slower but won't hatch out as week as my late ones did.

Good luck, I hope your baby is able to finish the absorbing process soon!

 

[GoldpartridgeHen]

It still hadn't made any attempt to get out of the shell, but I felt that it must have finished absorbing the yolk cos it had been so long since it started, I peeled away a bit more of the shell, and saw the yolk inside about the size of a large marble, so i'm leaving it to finish the job. The hole for the chick made is about 5-6cm, so hopefully that's enough for the chick.

Atm its doing nothing except breathing quite regularly. This is a bit of a stupid question but do chicks actually go to sleep while in their egg?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

do chicks actually go to sleep while in their egg?

Yep!

 

[LynnaePB]

The hole you have there should definitely be big enough, I've had a lot get out on their own but once the baby really starts striking out it should make progress within a few minutes and if it doesn't helping it out at that point should be fine (as long as it's not still nibbling anyway). I guess your little one is just a little bit of a slowpoke, they sure can take their time absorbing everything! Steady breathing is good, I've had a few who were terribly malpositioned that I tried to save that didn't make it, their breathing was never quite right and they started to gasp right before they passed. All the chicks that I've had to help that had nice steady breathing survived.

 

[BarnieLegend]

I think that as long as it has a steady breathing pattern, it is all right

 

[Newsab]

Hows it doin now ?? X