First time Hatching! Lots of questions! Thanks for your support and encouragement!

[Chickenwingwing]

Also, does this look abnormal? The chick is moving and chirping inside but I've never seen the membrane look all wrinkly like that. Or maybe I have and I'm just paranoid. I don't want to shrink wrap any chicks. 3

I think it looks fine

 

[LovesteadMama]

You can take it out and start peeling away the shell. If you see blood stop. See if it is dead or not. And then moisten the membrane to see if the veins are still there. If not just keep peeling until it’s head is out and keep the bottom on so it can absorb the yolk and pop itself out

The one that hadn't moved for a while was dead. It looks pretty gummy in there. Any ideas what happened? I live in the South so humidity is high in general. I'm wondering if it was a humidity issue.

 

[Chickenwingwing]

The one that hadn't moved for a while was dead. It looks pretty gummy in there. Any ideas what happened? I live in the South so humidity is high in general. I'm wondering if it was a humidity issue.

I'm sorry. Yes, I think high humidity would cause it to be gummy.

 

[LovesteadMama]

No progress on this one. It's been this way for 10-12 hours. There is one small pinhole/tear through the membrane. The chick has been chirping, sometimes pretty loudly and I can see it pressing against the membrane in a pipping motion. I am waiting to see if it will hatch in time but i do notice the membrane looks quite dry and detached from the shell and also that it is starting to look a bit discolored like it's been stained with weak tea. I do believe in natural selection and would let it be but I know that I opened the bator so I'm assuming (despite the fact that i have since had several successful hatches) that any hatching issues are probably due to my error. Should I assist somehow? Let me know what you think and thanks in advance.

I also still have 4 that haven't pipped or moved at all but I did candle before lockdown and all was well with each of the chicks. It's a waiting game.

 

[LovesteadMama]

Well, I decided to pull away just enough of the membrane so that their beak was exposed and I cracked a couple of pieces of the shell off. The little nugget was chirping and hobbling around the brooder when I woke up this morning! He/she does seem to have a deformity. The beak is misaligned top/bottom. Will this change? Will this chick be able to eat/drink/survive? Should this be a question for an entirely different forum?

We have 3 eggs left that haven't pipped, moved or anything. Is this the point at which I would candle them again and do a float test? I was thinking I would wait for this chick to dry out and then take the remaining eggs out and do that.

Thanks for your help! These chicks are SO cute! I feather sexed a few of them just for fun but really they're a barnyard mix so I don't think it works like that. I may have about 15 roosters running around in a few months.