DAY 23 Chick Alive In Egg, No Pip Yet

[VintageLilFarm]

I set these shipped eggs at 8am, February 10th. My first baby pipped yesterday at 11:45am, and I now have 5 babies in the incubator. I have two questions:
1. The first pipper pipped 22 hours ago, and still has only a port hole. She is breathing fine and cheeping. How long should I wait before I start trying to peel off hard shell? I don't see any red veins, but I know possibly she has not absorbed the yolk yet, so I don't want to be impatient.
2. I have another egg in there that is alive (I candled it) but it has not pipped. At what time should I do anything? The breeder suggested I make a breathing hole, but I hate to interfere. And I'd have no clue where or how to make the hole even if I chose to.

Thoughts?!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

1. If you look at the membrane and don't see any blood vessels beyond very faint thin empty looking ones, they are usually good on yolk as well. If she is chirping loudly like she is calling out, she might need help. I would take some shell off from the pip area and check the membrane to be sure she hasn't dropped to it and can't town.

2. I usually use a small electronics screwdriver but others use a nail or tweezers. Candle and find a spot away from baby's head and slowly scratch away at the shell. Eventually you will make a tiny hole and then you can carefully pry up on it to make a little bigger of a hole and see what's going on.

In both instances, make sure you only open the incubator enough to reach in and get the egg you are working on. I use a bottle to mist some warm water in before closing the lid. Don't be so rushed that you are careless, but try not to have the egg out of the incubator too long. Neither task should take more than a couple minutes.

Edited because autocorrect has a mind of its own.

 

[VintageLilFarm]

1. If you look at the membrane and don't see any blood vessels beyond very faint thin empty looking ones, they are usually good on yolk as well. If she is chirping loudly like she is calling out, she might need help. I would take some shell off from the pip area and check the membrane to be sure she hasn't dropped to it and can't town.

2. I usually use a small electronics screwdriver but others use a nail or tweezers. Candle and find a spot away from baby's head and slowly scratch away at the shell. Eventually you will make a tiny hole and then you can carefully pry up on it to make a little bigger of a hole and see what's going on.

In both instances, make sure you only open the incubator enough to reach in and get the egg you are working on. I use a bottle to mist some warm water in before closing the lid. Don't be so rushed that you are careless, but try not to have the egg out of the incubator too long. Neither task should take more than a couple minutes.

Edited because autocorrect has a mind of its own.

Thank you for the instructions. I am trying to work up my nerve to do either.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

It is definitely intimidating, especially with one you know is alive. Don't use too much force when making the hole or hold the egg so tightly you crack it.

You could practice first on an egg that's not being incubated.

 

[VintageLilFarm]

It is definitely intimidating, especially with one you know is alive. Don't use too much force when making the hole or hold the egg so tightly you crack it.

You could practice first on an egg that's not being incubated.

I don't want any to die and, if they are going to, it's much easier to think of them dying because of nature, not because of something i did to them!

 

[VintageLilFarm]

She is chirping loudly. But when I pull back on part of the shell, it looks like the membrane is still vascular. So I covered the part I peeled with a damp paper towel. Is this correct?

 

[VintageLilFarm]

I also peeled away at the area in the air cell on the one that had not pipped. It also seems vascular. So I don't want to do anything. Too scared I will make it bleed.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

It sounds like you are doing everything right. Make sure you aren't blocking her air hole though.

 

[VintageLilFarm]

Since she has been pipped for 25 hours, what will finally make her egg not be so vascular?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

When she draws the blood into her body.