Egg rocking sinxe day 18

[Leo1]

I have an egg that's been rocking since day eighteen, it;s now day 21. I've never seen an egg rock this long before pipping. Do you think it's been too long since the rocking started? SHould she be out by now? When do I help. I know it's only day 21, but since she's been rocking so long, I'm concerned she'll run out of food. If she was ready on day on day 18, she'd be running low on yolk at this point, I would think.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!!

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

Don't help! Helping it out will kill it. If it doesn't get out of the shell then something was wrong to begin with.

 

[cmfarm]

Since it is only day 21 I would leave it alone.

 

[Leo1]

we're on day 22 now, so I'm wondering when I go from watching to helping. I don't want her to die because the shell was thinker than normal or she got wriggled in the wrong position. I know day 21 was too early to start helping, but I also don't want to wait until day 25, if she's really been trying to get out since the eighteenth day.
Thanks!

 

[CorinneP]

If your on day 22 and Help .. Be prepared that you will probably lose her any way ... Great odds no matter how careful you have been .. If you gently lift the egg to your ear can you still hear any tapping ? I Had a situation where my humidity was off and shells very hard . They really couldn't get out . But That usually effects their ability to move in the shell too where thay can grow to big to turn and get out .. But I will tell you it stinks to assist and see a seemingly fully developed chick almost 100 percent ready that still has a bit of yolk to absorb and a vein or two that hadn't detached .. They can often live for hours and even over night and you still lose them as they were too weak . I have suffered some pretty bad guilt over it . That said If you do assist please Go very slow . listen first . make sure you know the end the air sack is on if you see any blood at all take a warm damp paper towel wrap it up and put it back..then wait before attempting to help her any more ..If you help her zip and expose membrane and see her moving Remember they stop and rest stop and rest . and you will need to keep the exposed membrane damp but careful not to drown her .. I use a clean finger dipped in warm water.. With all the messing arounf if you have other eggs you will probably be ruining their temp and humidity messing with the one .. Good Luck what ever you decide .

 

[Leo1]

I do hear tapping and it seemed like a hard tap, how would I factor that into my decision? Does that indicate the shell is in fact too hard? Though, I don't know how long she's actually been tapping. My thought is wait a few hours and see if it pips and if not then help? I'm not sure how long they usually tap before it cracks. This is my first year incubating so I'm very new at this. The last thing I want to do is break her out of there too early! All the other eggs are out, so I don't have them to worry about.
Thanks again so much!!

 

[KLRA]

Helping hurts more than it actually, well, helps. There's a series of events that need to occur in order for the chick to hatch successfully. First of all, don't worry too much about her running out of food. I'm doubtful she's absorbed her yolk sac yet if she hasn't pipped. Sounds like she's internally pipped, though. When there's enough carbon dioxide built up inside the shell, she'll start convulsing and pip the shell. If you do that for her, chances are you'll actually slow down the hatching process. Sometimes they just need a little more time in there. Hope she makes it out just fine

Do you know if the egg is a pullet egg?

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

What do you have your humidity at in your incubator? This could be your issue. If it's to low you may need to put a dish of water in there and then the chicks might start popping out.

 

[Leo1]

No, just wishful thinking calling her a she. I don't have a hydrometer, but I did put an additional bowl of water in there already. If anything I think it would be too high. The only reason I've even been considering helping is because she's been rocking for 5 days now and some of mama's eggs can be quite hard to crack. You have to smash them pretty hard on the edge of the pan to get them open. I didn't listen for tapping before today, never occurred to me until Connie mentioned it, but I've been hearing her tapping all day today. Haven't seen her rocking , though, since early this morning.
Everybody else got out OK, they took awhile but they made it.
I didn't know that about the CO2; that's pretty cool!

 

[KLRA]

Isn't it?! Some people have done a ton of research on incubating poultry... it's amazing how intricate the process is. I asked if it was a pullet egg (meaning that a pullet laid it, not that there was a pullet inside ) because I wondered about the hardness of the shell. I have more problems when I incubate pullet eggs than my older girls' eggs, especially since the shells are so hard. Sorry I can't be of more help, but I really don't know what to tell you hopefully she's just a slow poke and gets out just fine. Have you candled the egg at all to see what's going on? You could at least see if the blood vessels were drained and if she's pipped into her air cell. Is it possible she might be pipped on the underside of the egg where you can't see?