chick peeped while in turner

[braykell]

I am trying to incubate eggs but it never seems to turn out well. Last year I bought fertile eggs from a hatchery to hatch with my 2nd grade class and all the chicks died before hatching. I could never seem to keep the humidity high enough. So this time I decided to try it at home so I could keep a better eye on things. The eggs have been in an automatic turner and there was still 8 days till hatch. I noticed this morning one egg had peeped. I quickly took the eggs out of the turner and laid them on the bottom of the incubator. I looked closely at the egg and only the beak is out but the membrane is thick feeling and white. It was this way before I took them out. Should I give this more time? I did wrap it in a moist paper towel and I have the humidity at 74 now. It is chipping and I can see the beak moving. Please help!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

8 days early is very early. Had the chick made a hole/crack in the shell by itself or did you remove the shell? Do you know the date that you started incubating the eggs please? 21 days is the general rule of thumb for chicken egg incubation.

Looking at your pic I see blood which means the chick is not ready to hatch yet. It needs to absorb all that blood and the yolk before it's ready to hatch. Hatching is a very long and slow process for chicks. Initially they pip into the air cell of the egg (internal pip) where they learn to breath oxygen for the first time and you may hear some chirping from the chick at this point. Once the oxygen becomes low and the c02 high in the air cell they pip a little hole or crack in the shell (external pip) so they can get more oxygen. From internal to external pip it can be upto 24 hours and from external pip to zipping and hatching can be another 24 hours. During this time they are absorbing blood, yolk and resting lots before the final push to hatch.