day 26 and no pip but movement

[Sally Sunshine]

Rest easy

 

[Kaurana]

I just opened them all- all but 3 were gelatinous yolk. The other 3 were dead fetuses that hadn't absorbed their yolk yet. I swear I saw some of the move just yesterday. Sucks. I'm going to wait until I get an incubator that isn't home-made.

Hi Pamela, I am new to this forum and I have been reading so much to try and figure out what I should do if this happens again to me.. I had a similar situation, but I am afraid I did not have your patience and I might have killed 2 chicks on day 25...

Here is what I had and I am still trying to really understand what to do that late:

Due to temperature fluctuation, today was day 25 for us and yesterday we still had 6 live chicks in the eggs (they were certainly moving!) We had 2 pip yesterday and hatch today (one needed a nudge of help to zip.) 2 fully developed chicks were dead today - they seemed shrink wrapped, even though my humidity is 70-75%... but I did open yesterday to check for signs of life...

Then, my main question is: there were 2 chicks which drove me crazy because I was not sure if I should help or not... I decided to open a pip hole to get fresh air into the sac area just in case they had an internal pip. I found they were certainly alive, but no internal pip - but now, day 25!, do you still "let them do their thing!?!?" or do you try to free up the nostrils if they have not pipped yet!?

Full disclosure... I tried to find their nostrils and of course I lost them... They did not bleed to death (I was very careful), but their beaks were still sitting very low into their bodies (one in the correct position, under wing) and I had to remove a lot of shell to get to the nostrils - I think they died of "exposure" even though I wrapped them in warm moist paper towels. They had still not absorbed the egg sac, of course. Now, I knew this was very likely going to be a disaster - I was sad, but not at all surprised for losing them - but I thought they would drown or be shrink wrapped in there anyway (remember, this is day 25!)

Now reading more (and more, and MORE!) about helping, I have read that if they have not pipped, they will most certainly die if you try to help as their yolk sac has not been absorbed (but is this advice valid no matter how late they are?? I mean, can they still twist and pip out as late as day 25-27!?)

I guess I am trying to gauge, for the future, could they still have hatched if I had left them alone!? How long can they ultimately take to hatch? I did check them after death and found the green (excrement?) sac quite large... would they have died of infection? HOW does a very late chick actually, ultimately die? Suffocated!? How can one tell if the chick is having trouble pipping or is just taking her time [please answer with the context that this is day 25!!! I know we are supposed to leave them alone and not help in normal circumstances!] (should we even try to help when at day 25-26 and they are alive but no pip?)

Thanks!!
Thais