baby can't finish hatching...

[MedlerFarm16]

I have a baby quail egg that has got its shell open enough I can see him moving but has been like this since like m8dnight last night...he's made another notch in his shell but that's it. Can I help this process along or should I just leave it be?

 

[lomine]

That's a personal choice you need to make. I had one like that too. It pipped but never zippered. I believe it got a bit stuck because I opened to the incubator to take out the 40 other chicks running around.

I left it for half a day. I thought it was dead because it hadn't zippered so I went to take it out of the incubator to toss it out. When I picked up the egg the chick started moving. I decided to help it out figuring it wasn't going to get out on it's own and out of the egg it had a chance. With a pair of rounded tweezers I slowly started removing shell and membrane from around the pip in a circle around the shell (just like the chick would from the inside). When I got almost all the way around, the chick almost pushed himself out of the shell while I was still holding the egg. He hatched the rest of the way without issue. I let him dry off in the incubator and them put him with the rest of the chicks after a couple of hours. I was a little worried that they would trample him since they had all been out for a full day already but by the next morning he was running around just fine.

 

[MedlerFarm16]

This lil guy has been tryin since maybe b midnight, an has maybe some leway but hasn't gotten thru. I'll go a lil longer but if he's not out by the end of the day, ill b help a lil!! Thanks for your help!!

 

[geniash]

I had one that started hatching from the wrong end. I helped him after about 24 hours later and he's doing just fine. Totally your call.