First time hatching - one egg left not pipped

[SheppFamilyFlock]

We put 9 eggs in the incubator, so far everything has gone swimmingly. 2 eggs pipped on day 20, and yesterday on day 21 all have hatched but one. The only egg left does not have an external pip, but I haven't opened the incubator to candle it. Last night before I went to bed there was one unzipped and one pipped so I didn't want to open it. Now all 8 chicks are fluffy and walking (stumbling and crashing like drunkards so funny)

The last time the eggs were candled were day 16 and all were still good. I haven't noticed if this egg has been rocking at all, it's kinda chaos inside there with the babies crashing into all the eggs so it's hard to tell. Next time I will definitely number the eggs or something, I only labeled them with the date they were laid and the hen who laid them.

Is it safe now to open the incubator to check on the last egg? We can get the brooder set up right away before we open it. But wasn't sure if I should give the last egg some more time before opening it up. I know to avoid opening if the egg is externally pipped but this one is not.

I consider 8 of 9 eggs on our first hatch a very successful hatch! But if the last egg just needs a little help I want to do what I can

Thank you!

 

[brickhaven]

Congrats on the chicks! I open during lockdown for things like this. As long as you are quick it should be fine. All hatched are dry and the last egg isn’t even pipped so I’d candle it if you are concerned. Many would say not to so you do what you feel comfortable doing. Good luck!

 

[SheppFamilyFlock]

Congrats on the chicks! I open during lockdown for things like this. As long as you are quick it should be fine. All hatched are dry and the last egg isn’t even pipped so I’d candle it if you are concerned. Many would say not to so you do what you feel comfortable doing. Good luck!

Thank you! It's definitely exciting to watch. I was glued to the incubator all day yesterday I was probably more excited than my kids!

That's kinda how I'm feeling. If it was pipped I would leave it but since it's not I will check it out and move the babies to their new digs.

 

[Henora]

I had the exact same thing happen, and I moved my hatched chicks to the brooder every time at least 2 had dried, 5 hatched yesterday. Now I have one little egg and I've candled it twice and it's alive but not internally pipped (I don't think, but haven't seen it in real life before). What did you end up doing? I'm still waiting on my egg in the incubator but I have high hopes.

 

[SheppFamilyFlock]

I had the exact same thing happen, and I moved my hatched chicks to the brooder every time at least 2 had dried, 5 hatched yesterday. Now I have one little egg and I've candled it twice and it's alive but not internally pipped (I don't think, but haven't seen it in real life before). What did you end up doing? I'm still waiting on my egg in the incubator but I have high hopes.

Sorry for the late reply, I'm not on here too often! I'm sure your egg has hatched by now (or not, but I hope it did!)

I ended up moving the babies to the brooder and leaving the egg in the incubator for a few more days. I candles it and couldn't tell definitively if it had died so I just waited, unfortunately it didn't hatch. But we got 8 out of 9 and I call that a win! We just put 6 more into the incubator last night so fingers crossed we have as much luck this time!