HELP! Hatching Chicks Dilemma: What Would You Do?

[Anon112]

My first time incubating eggs.

Started with a small batch to begin with (8 eggs), but the three times I candled them they were all developing normally except for one (I removed it on day 14).

So now it's day 22. One chick has hatched and looks very healthy and hardy. One of the eggs shakes a bit. Five of the eggs aren't showing any movement or pipping.

That brings us to egg #7. This chick pipped yesterday morning, and has had the same sized hole (a little bigger than a pencil eraser) for at least 24 hours. The chick is still alive--I can see its beak through the hole.

Here's my dilemma: I am concerned that I may only get one chick out of this hatch. And I've read several places that it's not good to raise one chick on its own. If it were you, would you try to help the chick that's pipped get out of its shell? I'm leaving for work soon and I'll return in about 7 hours. This will mean that it will have been trying to hatch for over 30 hours.

Thoughts? Wisdom?

(EDIT: While I felt like I'd done enough research, I can now look back and see several mistakes I made along the way. I opened the incubator probably too often. When the first chick hatched it was blundering around the incubator knocking over the other eggs and I got super worried and removed it because I didn't want it to knock the other chicks out of "birthing" position. I'm worried that chick #7 might be struggling because when I took out the other chick it had already pipped and maybe I dried out the membrane in the ~1 min the incubator was open. So I'm beating myself up over these mistakes, but just want to do the best for these chicks moving forward.)

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Hello. First hatch is always stressful.

Read this article and it will help u understand what's going on in there. Then u can safely check viability and what steps to take next.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

 

[Kiki]

24 hours is usually enough wait time...this chick may be stuck. Can you open the hole it has made a little wider/bigger to see if it is stuck or not?

What was your humidity level at throughout and do you have a calibrated humidity gauge inside the bator, separate then the one it comes with?

 

[Anon112]

Hello. First hatch is always stressful.

Read this article and it will help u understand what's going on in there. Then u can safely check viability and what steps to take next.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

Boy do I wish I'd read that article before the hatch started! I'm just shaking my head at how many errors I've made.

Based on what it says I'm going to calm down, back off, and see what happens. I think that I was overly panicking about that resting stage, and assuming that a pip without immediate movement/action meant trouble. I just hope at this point that opening the incubator to look at the egg hasn't done too much damage.

Thank you so much for this link--I will bookmark it and revisit it every time I get the urge to "rescue" one of the chicks.

 

[Anon112]

24 hours is usually enough wait time...this chick may be stuck. Can you open the hole it has made a little wider/bigger to see if it is stuck or not?

What was your humidity level at throughout and do you have a calibrated humidity gauge inside the bator, separate then the one it comes with?

Thank you for this reply. I used a hygrometer and the incubator I bought had a good reputation in terms of maintaining humidity. I kept the humidity between 45 and 60% (a challenge because it has been horrible humid here and my house has been practically damp from it). At day 18 I increased the humidity to around 70% (it's gone as high as 83% on the hygrometer, but with the weather I've been having a hard time reducing humidity). I know that too much humidity can make them drown but too little can make the shell too hard for them to get through.

I think I'm going to take a deep breath and just see what happens over the next few days.

Thank you both for your responses!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

For future reference....

Humidity is no set number. You need to adjust only as needed via what those air cells are telling you. The majority of air cells. I never add water to start unless it's reading under 20% and then I candle day 7 and see if I need to add humidity by the size of air cells. Just don't let it fall below 18. The only time I have higher humidity est 45 up is serama or tiny banty eggs. When you get to day 13 or 14 candle again and keep adjusting as u need to. You can candle every day or two at the end. So at lockdown you have excellent air cells. Then I go with 70 humidity if air cells look good. If they need to loose more weight I won't lock down day 18 or up humidity as much and the opposite of air cells have grown too large.

U can check the eggs in the order and way I suggested in the assist articles .my guess is they may be a bit wet and can be sticky in jelly like stuffs since humidity high during incubation. For the life of me I have no clue why these dang incubator co don't explain humidity and tell people 55 set number÷ grrr=r

 

[Anon112]

For future reference....

Humidity is no set number. You need to adjust only as needed via what those air cells are telling you. The majority of air cells. I never add water to start unless it's reading under 20% and then I candle day 7 and see if I need to add humidity by the size of air cells. Just don't let it fall below 18. The only time I have higher humidity est 45 up is serama or tiny banty eggs. When you get to day 13 or 14 candle again and keep adjusting as u need to. You can candle every day or two at the end. So at lockdown you have excellent air cells. Then I go with 70 humidity if air cells look good. If they need to loose more weight I won't lock down day 18 or up humidity as much and the opposite of air cells have grown too large.

U can check the eggs in the order and way I suggested in the assist articles .my guess is they may be a bit wet and can be sticky in jelly like stuffs since humidity high during incubation. For the life of me I have no clue why these dang incubator co don't explain humidity and tell people 55 set number÷ grrr=r

So if I've maybe had the humidity too high during the incubation, is that just a lost cause? Or should I be letting it fall a bit lower now?

It's been a bit of a wild ride with this incubation, because I've read several different sources, and they all say something to the effect of "If you don't do XYZ the chicks will die," but often their advice is different from another source's advice.

I realize that any project like this has a failure rate, but I'm the kind of person who takes it really hard if my actions negatively impact another living being. I thought I had done my due diligence until day 18 hit and then I felt completely at sea.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

@Sally Sunshine Its so nice to see you back home doing what you do best. Love you brat.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I recently hatched chicks with a 35-40% humidity from beginning to end. I didn't raise up the humidity near the end because I couldn't, somehow my homemade incubator just wouldn't reach humidity past 40%.... but they came out fine, nonetheless.

 

[Anon112]

I just wanted to update to say that I just got home. The one who I was worried would have died while I was at work is up there rocking and rolling, and it looks like it's almost completely worked around the crown of the egg.

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences and knowledge. I know I only have a handful of posts on this site, but it really is my first destination when I have a question about my chickens (usually my question has already been answered somewhere, but this morning I was so frantic I couldn't make my brain take the time to search through the forums). Thank you for the support!