Distressed chick. Is this normal?

[Odelia]

I left it at 99.5. I don't recall reading anything that said to drop the temp. Is it best to drop when they begin hatching?

This little guy seems fine today! Phew!

I do have the very last chick struggling right now. It pipped well over 24 hours ago. Just cracked the shell, never made a hole. It's the only one left in the incubator now. I got the tweezers out and opened the pip hole a bit. The chick was breathing and chirping from time to time, but not moving. The inner membrane is blood-free, clearish-brown, and sticky. I first made a full zip for it, but it didn't do anything. So after 2 hours I took the whole 'air pocket' end of the shell off, still no effort. So I came back awhile later and loosened that sticky membrane and he unfolded and stretched out, started chirping more. I left him that way- back side still in the shell- in case he's not done absorbing, Not sure if he's gonna make it. Everyone else finished hatching yesterday.

Way too much help. You are going to find lots of chicks with unabsorbed yolk sac issues if you do so. I know it is hard, but you need to let them find their way into the world at their own pace. Their struggle to hatch out of the egg also helps them to absorb their yolk sack completely. If your incubator has the proper humidity they are able to pip and not hatch for a day or more without getting shrink wrapped. If they are not zipping they quite likely aren't quite ready to be hatched yet. Being honest did you assist the one you were worried about? Also no do not drop the temperature of your incubator. Just as important is the humidity. Every time you open your incubator you are losing your humidity causing more problems for hatch. They just need to rest after hatching. They don't need food or water. Also having the hatched chicks peeping helps to encourage the ones in the eggs to try harder to come out. If they were under a mamma hen they wouldn't go anywhere after hatching. They just sit and rest and dry while they wait for their siblings to join them. Also the person asked if your brooder was 95 degrees. Your incubator should be 99.5-100.

 

[Jrose]

Are we talkin' incubator or brooder? The brooder's temp is currently adjusted to their own liking- as you said, they huddle closer if it's too cold, move away if too warm. I just watch to see what they want, I don't bother with a thermostat for brooding. The incubator, however, I left at 99.5 (101 'top' temp, 99.5 'bottom' temp) during hatching.

 

[Jrose]

Way too much help. You are going to find lots of chicks with unabsorbed yolk sac issues if you do so. I know it is hard, but you need to let them find their way into the world at their own pace. Their struggle to hatch out of the egg also helps them to absorb their yolk sack completely. If your incubator has the proper humidity they are able to pip and not hatch for a day or more without getting shrink wrapped. If they are not zipping they quite likely aren't quite ready to be hatched yet. Being honest did you assist the one you were worried about? Also no do not drop the temperature of your incubator. Just as important is the humidity. Every time you open your incubator you are losing your humidity causing more problems for hatch. They just need to rest after hatching. They don't need food or water. Also having the hatched chicks peeping helps to encourage the ones in the eggs to try harder to come out. If they were under a mamma hen they wouldn't go anywhere after hatching. They just sit and rest and dry while they wait for their siblings to join them. Also the person asked if your brooder was 95 degrees. Your incubator should be 99.5-100.

This guy pipped on Wednesday sometime. Yesterday (Thursday) was a stand-still, all other chicks finished hatching early morning, this guy just sat, little sound, no effort. I expected to see him out and thriving this morning, but zero progress. Of course this egg has now been alone in the bator for 24 hours with no progress. I didn't assist any others, they all hatched fine and on-time. Today is technically day 23. I did remove the other chicks from the bator upon suggestion, as the whole thing was becoming/has become quite filthy, and the chicks were knocking eggs everywhere.