Hey all - this is my second batch of eggs and I'm happy with the hatch rate so far. 10 ended up fertilized and one quit a couple of weeks ago, so, 9 total set for the 21 days. 8 chicks are out! The first seven came on the eve of day 21 (with a couple of over achievers who actually HATCHED on the eve of day 21). But - two eggs pipped yesterday, along with the rest and, as of this morning, still had not zipped. I was less worried about the 8th egg because that chick was in there knocking around and chirping up a storm. Sure enough, when I got home, she was out.
But, my 9th egg had made almost no progress since the initial pip. And this afternoon, still nothing. We are just past 24 hours since the pip. The external pip started to look a little gunky and yellowish, so, I did my best to try my first assist. I wrapped the egg in a warm wet paper towel and tried to peel some of the shell away. Chick is still inside and alive, but, I did not see a beak around the external pip. I pulled as much of the shell away headed towards the air sac as I dared, but, the membrane feels thick and dry, I can see why she is struggling.
She started pecking where I was messing around with my tweezers, so, I tried to work with her to make the hole in the membrane a little bigger. Once I did that, her little beak poked through and I figured that was a good start, so I put her back in the incubator with two wet paper towels to drive the humidity up. I also put some vegetable oil on the exposed pieces of membrane. The membrane still looks pretty red internally. Any of the more experienced folks want to let me know their thoughts about where to go from here? Something tells me she is malpositioned and is going to have a hard time getting out on her own.
No new progress in the 30-45 minutes or so since my assist attempt. She's just got her little beak out the hole in the membrane and opens and closes her beak every so often.
Here is a short video of her - right at the beginning, you can see her little beak move as I described:
But, my 9th egg had made almost no progress since the initial pip. And this afternoon, still nothing. We are just past 24 hours since the pip. The external pip started to look a little gunky and yellowish, so, I did my best to try my first assist. I wrapped the egg in a warm wet paper towel and tried to peel some of the shell away. Chick is still inside and alive, but, I did not see a beak around the external pip. I pulled as much of the shell away headed towards the air sac as I dared, but, the membrane feels thick and dry, I can see why she is struggling.
She started pecking where I was messing around with my tweezers, so, I tried to work with her to make the hole in the membrane a little bigger. Once I did that, her little beak poked through and I figured that was a good start, so I put her back in the incubator with two wet paper towels to drive the humidity up. I also put some vegetable oil on the exposed pieces of membrane. The membrane still looks pretty red internally. Any of the more experienced folks want to let me know their thoughts about where to go from here? Something tells me she is malpositioned and is going to have a hard time getting out on her own.
No new progress in the 30-45 minutes or so since my assist attempt. She's just got her little beak out the hole in the membrane and opens and closes her beak every so often.
Here is a short video of her - right at the beginning, you can see her little beak move as I described:
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