Egg pipped in the wrong place- do I need to help?

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I have a long, skinny egg that has pipped kind of in the middle as opposed to the fat end. Is this going to be a problem? Will I need to help at some point? There is just a little crack at the moment. Is it a goner already because it did not pip into the air sac?

ACK! Help me hatching gurus!

 

[ChickBond 007]

If you don't hear/see movement, I would peel a tiny bit back to make sure air is available. Then sit on your hands!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Will I kill the rest of them by opening the bator mid-hatch?

 

[gumpsgirl]

I've had plenty of eggs do that before and I've just sat back and hoped for the best. Most of the time they make it. I wouldn't open the lid at this point because you don't want to compromise the other chicks in the hatch. If it was the last one, I'd say go for it, but then you risk tearing a vein and the chick bleeding to death in the shell too. It's probably just best to leave it be and let nature take its course.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

But it's such a pretty little blue egg from Pips&Peeps! I know it has a baby in there just itching to get out. I don't want to let Nature take it's course. Nature is mean.

Okay... I think I'm done now. Enough whining.

I'll just watch and see what happens. I have one out and two pipped (including the pretty little blue). Maybe I'll wait for the other to make it all the way out before panicing over the blue.
Theoretically, if the eggs haven't pipped yet it is safer to open the bator to pull out a struggler, yes?

 

[gumpsgirl]

Theoretically, yes, but then you have to worry about the veins that are attached to the shell. It's pipped, so if you absolutely can't stand it, I would peel back the smallest amount of shell possible. It could be that the air cell was crazy shaped and it is just fine. I've hatched plenty of eggs that had oval shaped air cells, so the pips were farther down the side of the egg instead of the top. The chicks made it out just fine!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Okay, okay... I'll sit on my hands for a while. Hatch Day makes me crazy!

 

[Katy]

Most eggs I hatch pip more towards the middle of the egg....not really on the big end.

 

[FenDruadin]

It will probably be just fine. The first pips aren't always exactly how we expect them to be. Each hatch is different.

If you try to help right now, you will more than likely do more harm than good. If it can't breathe, it will probably have already suffocated. If it pipped through a blood vessel, then it's already bled to death.

If, on the other hand, it can breathe and has not punctured a blood vessel, then what it needs right now is to rest until it has the strength to keep working. If you try to help, you may puncture a blood vessel or cause the membranes to dry out by removing it from the incubator.

What I would do is watch and wait. If it is alive & strong but having trouble "zipping" because of the location of the pip, then it will continue to chip at the same spot. The opening may get larger and a little wider and you may be able to see the beak after a while. But if after 24-48 hours it is still pipped in only one spot--no sign of zipping--then and ONLY then you might be able to help (by following the much repeated instructions for help-outs).

You probably won't compromise the rest of the hatch by opening the incubator once or twice. I think as long as you keep openings to an absolute minimum, most of the time you're fine. It's not really a matter of the chicks living or dying so much as each time you open it a percentage of their moisture is lost and you risk making it harder (and potentially impossible) for them to hatch out.

However, for the reasons I just stated, I would nevertheless keep the 'bator closed for another 24-48 hours and only help if it becomes obviously necessary.

Keep us updated.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
That's exactly why I advise people to not open the bator lid.

It drops the humidity and the chicks end up shrink wrapped. Then you do have to help and I have always found that a bit stressful myself. I personally like nature to take its course and the chicks to make it out on their own.

Good advice by the way!