Do I need to assist these guys?

[chickenchick1717]

Hi everyone! I'm currently hatching a batch of 16 chicken eggs. I have 5 chicks who have successfully hatched, and 6 eggs which are pipped or partially unzipped. Today is day 20 and tomorrow is day 21. Two of those eggs though, have been pipped for over 24 hours. Both chicks were very active today and could be heard and seen though the hole in the egg. You can see their beaks poking out. However, those were my second and third eggs to pip, and are now being surpassed by other chicks. It's been maybe 30 hours since they pipped. Should I assist with their hatch? Should I leave them? I don't really want to start digging around in the incubator with the others still doing their thing! Help!!

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC. Can you post some pictures of them?

 

[chickenchick1717]

Welcome to BYC. Can you post some pictures of them?

Yeah here are some pics! They did make progress today, which eased my worries, but then they both stopped again. Been probably 6 hours.

 

[killmak]

I would wait another 12 hours. Some chicks pip early and still need to absorb yolk. If you do help make sure there are no blood vessels still in the membrane. If you help when they are not ready you can cause them to bleed and cause more harm than good. They can easily go 2-3 days after hatching without eating so don't worry about them starving if they take too long to zip.

 

[Huntmaster]

Yeah here are some pics! They did make progress today, which eased my worries, but then they both stopped again. Been probably 6 hours.

Once they start to zip, they usually only take shorter breaks and don't just stop for 6 hours unless there is something else going on. And I also see one with a very large hole for a pip that usually isn't a good sign. Was there a reason you didn't remove turner and laid eggs on their sides for hatching?