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.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Agree with @Debbie292d.
Your incubator is running at least 1 F low and likely significantly more. You are fortunate to have as many out as you do. The one pipped is likely too tired to complete the process. Whether to assist is a personal choice. If I know my temperature is correct, I rarely assist. Often assisted chicks don't survive long in my experience. But then, I breed for vigor and chicks that don't pop out on their own aren't contributing vigor to my breeding.
For te future, look for a Govee thermometer/hygrometer that reads via Bluetooth. They are very accurate and constantly monitor both temp and humidity and you can download all data so you can go back and look for any aberrations.
Never trust thee reading on the incubator.
Your unit probably also has cool spots given the protracted hatch but no part is up to 99.5
Even the best ones usually need calibration.