First Hatch in several years ... one struggling to pip, do I help??

[ambervw]

Hi! New to BYC but not to chickens and ducks! Haven't hatched any eggs in years as I've been with out viable hens (our girls are old ladies now!) but... bought 6 orpington eggs off the internet for an experiment. First time I candled, 7 days, one of the eggs had a blood ring, but the rest were fertile and growing. The second time, 16 days, all was well again. I then left them til the 18th day, stopped turning and took the dividers out, upped the humidity from 50% to 70% (these have always worked for me before). Today I got up at 6am and had a little fluffy chick waiting for me in the incubator after pipping at 11am-ish yesterday, and then another hatched today at around 4pm after a little assistance from us. Now we have another egg that has been wobbling for three days now, no cheeping and no beak in the air sac, how should I help him out?? There is a crack in the egg from our first chick knocking it against the wall of the incubator ( he was very active!!). Its now the end of day 22 and I'm concerned that the egg shell is too hard or he is shrink wrapped or something awful! I was thinking of just helping by making a pip hole first and see how it goes from there?

Thanks in advance for your help!!

 

[ScissorChick]

If he has not even made a hole in the egg, he's not shrink wrapped.

I wouldn't help him. I know it sounds really harsh, and mean, BUT if he's still not cracked

the egg, He could have some kind of problem, or be deformed, and if you help him, your

stuck with the decision of culling him. Last chick I helped was shrink wrapped. It turned out

turned out to be a disaster. Is he actually rocking the egg? He may not be ready,

espcially if he has not broken the air sac yet.

~Scissor