Day 24 - one chick has been pipped since last night without zipping. Can I safety hole unhatched eggs?

[Greener Pastures]

This little chick has been pipped for at least 17 hours. The hole has gotten bigger but no zip. It's day 24 and I have 7 other unpipped eggs in the incubator I'd like to candle and do a safety hole for. How long do I leave the unzipped chick before stepping in? I'm worried the unhatched chicks will die while I'm waiting. I have 15 successfully hatched chicks from this incubation born from day 22-24. Any advice would be very welcome.

 

[Debbie292d]

Wow, after this, I would get yourself a separate thermometer/hygrometer as I'm thinking your incubator temperature is off. They all should be pipping and hatching on Day 21, or a day either side of that.

It's recommended waiting 24 hours to assist, but if it's making progress, then let it keep at it.

If you have to assist, here's an excellent article on how to do it: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

I have hatched over 500 silkie eggs this year and never made a safety hole for any, and assisted with about 4-5 eggs that were shipped and had saddled. If you read the article though, they do talk about it.