BCM Pipping / Zipping / Hatching Question...

[tparsons99]

Hello to all you experts !!

This is my first batch of BCM's using my own home built bator. Quick question:

I have a BCM the pipped on day 21, for 24 hours he did nothing more... Then it started zipping and has struggled to make it only half way around the egg and that took OVER 30 more hours !! Still struggling as I write this !!

He is still alive and must be dead tired. Is this OK ??

I had one that pipped, zipped and came out of the shell all within a 2 hour time frame, why is this one struggling like this for DAYS ??

Thanks !

 

[sonjab314]

Check this thread out

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=360518

 

[vegaschick]

I have had to help 3 BCM out and it is quite stressful. To start I got hot, wet cloths and a spray bottle filled w/hot water. With these I moistened the membrane all around the pip. I even sprayed the egg really good. I figured it needed all the humidity it could get. I waited a bit and broke the shell as if it had zipped around it. Moisten, wait, carefully and slowly tear membrane around as if zipped by chick. Make sure when you start into membrane that membrane is moist and no veins are visible. After removing the shell and outer membrane, I moisten again...cause there is an almost invisible, clear membrane still around chick. Wait, check for veins, then peel back membrane to free the wing and head. Moisten around remaining shell and membranes. I then allow the chick to push out of the lower shell on its own. That way the umbilical cord is not disturbed by me and in the few times I helped, it never bled. The chick may sleep for a long time before finishing hatching. It is exhausted, but will gain back strength and make a go for it if possible. All 3 I helped out have been fat, fluffy, healthy and happy within a day or two.


GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[SportChick]

TParsons, my BCM eggs have done miserably! I started with 11. One pipped out a piece of shell. You could see his beak and his black feathers through a pretty big window of membrane. He chirped through the little hole he made and you see him breathing. He never made much more progress. After about 6 hours, his membrane looked thick, yellow and rubbery (but it wasn't stuck to him at all). After readings other posts along the way about the difficulty of hatching BCM's I tried to open his membrane a little wider with a pair of tweezers. I opened it about 1/8 of an inch and then saw a little drop of blood so I stopped and put him back. He kept chirping and was chipping away a little more of his shell when I went to bed about 6 hours after that. When I woke up this morning I thought he might be doing Ok since he made a little progress but when I got all my Barred Rock chicks out of the incubator, he was clearly dead. I chipped away a little bit of his shell. He didn't move at all. No breathing motions and the veins in the membrane had turned black.

The other 10 haven't done anything! How many do you have? I am interested to hear how it goes from now on. Good Luck!!