Hatching Trouble!!!

[misty27]

I am new to the forum and also to chicken hatching. I am having a little trouble and was hoping that someone here might know what to do. We only started out with a small batch of eggs just to start only 12 eggs. Anyway 2 hatched on day 19 and 2 hatched on day 20 none hatched on day 21 and today is day 22. We have 2 that are wiggling ever so slightly but no pips. I did have one pip on day 19 and by day 20 hadn't made progress so I assisted but it was too late the chick was already dead, I don't want these to die in the shell but I don't know what to do since they haven't even pipped yet? Please all advice is very much appreciated.

 

[Makomd]

If you feel you have to assist them, I would suggest taking them to the bathroom, turning the shower on just hot water get the humidity up in the room, and ever so slightly break the shell in the manner they would normally zip, if they are able to push themselves some I would let them do it themselves.

Sounds like there may have been some temp/humidity issues throughout incubation with the different days of hatch.

 

[BayGoose]

I'd go ahead and try to assist. Candle the egg in a dark room and try to find the air cell. Try to stay away from the chick. Poke a little hole and slowly make it bigger. If there's bleeding, stop. Wait a little longer. If there's bleeding, the chick hasn't absorbed everything yet and veins haven't shrinked. So you'll do more harm than good if there's bleeding. If no bleeding, keep opening the shell. Take breaks in between to keep chick from getting too chilled. Use a q-tip and warm water to keep membranes moist. Also, this will help locate any active veins. And just slowly work the chick out. I don't buy into that "the chick is too weak, should just let it go" because we are using artifical incubation. Especially if you have valuable birds. There's a lot that can go wrong during artifical incubation. Good luck!