Chirping stopped inside egg

[makai08]

I had a clutch of 5 eggs, 4 of which hatched successfully without incident yesterday. Am using the Nurture Right 360 incubator. The last egg was heard chirping yesterday, but today has gone quiet. I was concerned that something had gone wrong, so tried to candle the egg quickly (I know the worries about shrink wrapping -- good news is that the room the incubator is in is relatively high humidity, and the incubator recovers humidity within a matter of seconds once closed), but can't see anything, not even the air cell that was there before. Is it too late for that one? Worth trying to help?

Thanks y'all

 

[Tonyroo]

I wish you hadn't done that, the chick was probably resting or napping and absorbing its yolk. Leave it alone and wait.

 

[MGG]

I had a clutch of 5 eggs, 4 of which hatched successfully without incident yesterday. Am using the Nurture Right 360 incubator. The last egg was heard chirping yesterday, but today has gone quiet. I was concerned that something had gone wrong, so tried to candle the egg quickly (I know the worries about shrink wrapping -- good news is that the room the incubator is in is relatively high humidity, and the incubator recovers humidity within a matter of seconds once closed), but can't see anything, not even the air cell that was there before. Is it too late for that one? Worth trying to help?

Thanks y'all

I'm going to say what I would do, take it out and treat it as an assisted hatch. Remove only as much shell as necessary to be sure if it's alive or dead. Opening the incubator for less than 1 minute intervals during lockdown is not going to shrinkwrap your eggs. I open my incubator often during lockdown to remove chicks, candle remaining eggs, assist if necessary, remove egg shells, etc. I have NEVER had a shrink-wrapped chick. I'm not saying it doesn't happen to some, and generally it is best to leave the incubator closed during lockdown, esp. if you're inexperienced, but it's not such a terrible thing to open the incubator during lockdown as some people make it out to be. If he is dead that is not what it's from. Shrink-wrapped usually only comes from not salt testing a separate hydrometer and keeping that in the incubator for an accurate humidity reading, which results in too low (or sometimes too high) of a humidity for too long of time during the most important stage, hatching.

 

[makai08]

I wish you hadn't done that, the chick was probably resting or napping and absorbing its yolk. Leave it alone and wait.

I understand the concern, but it had been more than 30 hours since the others had hatched and this one was chirping. I think we were beyond yolk absorption, and was looking for bad positioning or even signs of an internal pip, both of which there are not :-/

 

[MGG]

Read this article before opening your egg.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

 

[MGG]

Also, welcome to BYC, @makai08 !

 

[makai08]

Also, welcome to BYC, @makai08 ! View attachment 2478860

Thank you! Will try a very tiny safety hole and see if that helps. Wish I'd asked you earlier!

 

[MGG]

Thank you! Will try a very tiny safety hole and see if that helps. Wish I'd asked you earlier!

You're welcome! If there's no response at a safety hole open up some more. Stay in the air cell area. He never externally pipped?

 

[makai08]

No external pip When the others were playing soccer with him/her and chirping around the incubator, s/he was chirping, but never pipped. I'll sit with the current safety hole for maybe 12 hours before going further, or if there's no response you think it's worth expanding the hole a bit (staying within the air cell area, which I've marked from earlier days)?

 

[MGG]

No external pip When the others were playing soccer with him/her and chirping around the incubator, s/he was chirping, but never pipped. I'll sit with the current safety hole for maybe 12 hours before going further, or if there's no response you think it's worth expanding the hole a bit (staying within the air cell area, which I've marked from earlier days)?

Ok. If you think it's the right choice I would say open up the safety hole more. He would have run out of air by now, and if he's still alive he's probably to weak to make it out on his own.