First time EVER hatching

[UnicornLover92]

I decided for my first time hatching I would go with turkeys, to my surprise I was kind of successful as I have pipping turkey that seems to be struggling with zippering as I have been watching it since 430am Mountain time. And it’s almost 5 hrs now and this is how far we have gotten. I don’t know if the membrane is drying out and I should help the little guy or what. I need help and suggestions. The small pip is the start the big hole with the beak is where we are at. It is chirping every so often but I’m not seeing much progress. I feel like this is what it’s like to watch paint dry for paint enthusiast lol

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Thanks for joining us and sharing photos!
Listen carefully, now: SIT. ON. YOUR. HANDS. Do not attempt to help the chick hatch! I know it's very hard to wait and wait and wait for what seems like eternity, but that's normal for all of us hatching eggs.

What you're seeing is the chick getting his first breaths of fresh air. He has struggled very hard to get into this position and crack that hole, now he needs to rest. And he WILL rest for about the next 12-24 hours. During this time, he is absorbing the remaining yolk and blood is still flowing through veins in the membrane. You'll probably notice his beak moving, like he's chewing or yawning; that's a sign that he's NOT ready. It's hard, but you cannot disturb his shell during this critical time.

If you feel you just HAVE to do something, it's okay to dab a very tiny bit of coconut oil or water onto the exposed membrane to keep it moist, but be very careful not to get it on his nares (nostrils).

Once he's ready, by tomorrow morning or earlier, he'll start to "zip" around the shell. When that happens, he should be out of the shell all by himself after about 20 minutes.

And keep posting, please, with updates! *IF* the time comes to assist his hatching, we'll let you know. But not before 24 hours have passed after he pipped that hole. OK?

 

[UnicornLover92]

Thanks for joining us and sharing photos!
Listen carefully, now: SIT. ON. YOUR. HANDS. Do not attempt to help the chick hatch! I know it's very hard to wait and wait and wait for what seems like eternity, but that's normal for all of us hatching eggs.

What you're seeing is the chick getting his first breaths of fresh air. He has struggled very hard to get into this position and crack that hole, now he needs to rest. And he WILL rest for about the next 12-24 hours. During this time, he is absorbing the remaining yolk and blood is still flowing through veins in the membrane. You'll probably notice his beak moving, like he's chewing or yawning; that's a sign that he's NOT ready. It's hard, but you cannot disturb his shell during this critical time.

If you feel you just HAVE to do something, it's okay to dab a very tiny bit of coconut oil or water onto the exposed membrane to keep it moist, but be very careful not to get it on his nares (nostrils).

Once he's ready, by tomorrow morning or earlier, he'll start to "zip" around the shell. When that happens, he should be out of the shell all by himself after about 20 minutes.

And keep posting, please, with updates! *IF* the time comes to assist his hatching, we'll let you know. But not before 24 hours have passed after he pipped that hole. OK?

Okay okay okay I’ll just keep watching from a distance lol. It’s so hard I feel like he’s crying for me to help him get the shell off lol

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Okay okay okay I’ll just keep watching from a distance lol. It’s so hard I feel like he’s crying for me to help him get the shell off lol

If you were to assist his hatching now, this is what he'd look like (well, sort of - the photo is a chicken, but turkey poults don't look much different:

Any disturbance to this membrane and the chick will bleed out and die, if it hasn't already. And now the exposed membrane will dry out and shrink wrap the chick so he can't get out on his own, and he could die. This assisted hatch was too early.

Remind yourself that (for reasons unknown to science yet) the chick needs to force the hatching process by itself - maybe to gain strength or cause some kind of metabolic change that ensures health after hatch. Chicks which are assisted too early most often die. Chicks which cannot hatch alone and must have assistance, also (often, but not always) don't thrive and soon die.

Here's a great article about the hatching process and how to assist, if it becomes necessary. It's lengthy, but packed with all the information you need to know. Take time now, while the chick is resting, to read it all the way through, and then read the part on assisted hatching twice - before you do anything to the chick.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...hing,mean that the yolk is not fully absorbed.

 

[UnicornLover92]

Here we are now about 10 hrs in I had to use some coconut oil due the membrane drying out on the baby’s beak making it hard for it to move it’s beak around. Is it doing good so far? How do I know when it’ll need help, IF it needs it?

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Looks like he's doing fine, and you did well to put coconut oil on the membrane. He's got a rather large hole, so shrink-wrapping is a risk. I'd advise to not open the incubator unless absolutely necessary, and keep the humidity up at 80%. Every time you open it, moisture escapes and makes the risk worse. You'll know he needs help when he's gone 24 hours with no progress. That would be sometime tomorrow morning.

Are any of the other eggs pipping?

 

[UnicornLover92]

Looks like he's doing fine, and you did well to put coconut oil on the membrane. He's got a rather large hole, so shrink-wrapping is a risk. I'd advise to not open the incubator unless absolutely necessary, and keep the humidity up at 80%. Every time you open it, moisture escapes and makes the risk worse. You'll know he needs help when he's gone 24 hours with no progress. That would be sometime tomorrow morning.

Are any of the other eggs pipping?

Okay thank you I’ve been trying to keep the humidity at 80% but condensation builds up once it’s at about 76-78% and I read that’s to much humidity but that was for chickens. No, no one else is pipping which has me worried that I did something wrong during incubation. I bought the eggs from someone in my area who collected over a couple of days so I’m not sure if that has a factor in the early hatching for this guy or not. But I estimated that they would hatch between today and Wednesday I started them mid morning on the 23rd of last month.

 

[Oob Child]

Okay thank you I’ve been trying to keep the humidity at 80% but condensation builds up once it’s at about 76-78% and I read that’s to much humidity but that was for chickens. No, no one else is pipping which has me worried that I did something wrong during incubation. I bought the eggs from someone in my area who collected over a couple of days so I’m not sure if that has a factor in the early hatching for this guy or not. But I estimated that they would hatch between today and Wednesday I started them mid morning on the 23rd of last month.

If your predictions are right, they still have time to hatch. Just leave the rest now.

 

[UnicornLover92]

If your predictions are right, they still have time to hatch. Just leave the rest now.

Yeah I haven’t messed with the others and i haven’t messed with the chick hatching except to use the coconut oil on its beak. Like I said before it’s just nerve wracking waiting for this little thing to come into the world lol I like helping animals and it just seems this one is struggling but then again it’s my time hatching so I don’t know what I’m doing here lol. I feel like a first time mom again

 

[UnicornLover92]

Is 78-79% humidity okay? I have added water several times since you said to keep it at 80% and it holds for a min then drops I don’t want to add to much water. I bought a cheap incubator that doesn’t regulate humidity well…