After the chicks pip the air sac, how long do they have to get a pip in the shell before they suffocate? How many hours? So if a chick pipped the air sac at 9am today, when should there be a hole in the egg?
I asked the same thing myself a while ago. Some said the shell is porous and they still get air. I don't buy it, had 2 suffocate yesterday because they pipped the air cell but couldn't pip the shell cuz they were too big to maneuver their way out. I also think it depends on how big the air cell is. I don't like to wait more than 12 hours, but have been trying to keep hands off. I have some La Fleche in the hatcher now that I REALLY want all to hatch from but am finding it hard to sit on my hands, especially after losing my 2 showgirls yesterday . On the other hand I had an Ancona that I candled real quick yesterday because I switched it to my other hatcher and it was pipped into the air cell (about noon) and it JUST pipped the shell. So I will be interested to see if anyone has any scientific data on this. Good luck with your eggs! Krista
I havent had luck with my shipped silkie eggs. So I really want these 4 to hatch. I guess Ill wait till 6-8pm tonight and then candle and put a small hole in so they can suffocate. The day before yesterday I had to help out 3 of my silkies that couldnt get out themselves. So hopefully they pip the shell themselves, that way I could just help them out tomorrow if they need it. ETA: Also, I've been reading that when Silkies are hatching, if they have a large vault, sometimes they cant even move around to pip the shell, or they pip the shell and cant "zip" out.
