Have a pip 24 hours old, when do I intervene - UPDATE - New hatch

[mhaines4102]

I have a pip that pipped yesterday at this time. He has not zipped, only pipped. He is moving around, but he is not really making progress. If I grabbed a pair of tweezers and helped him zip a little would that be bad???

 

[amyquilt]

Now!!! Typically advise is 24 hours.

 

[chickenpiedpiper]

NOW, keep the membrane moist, and everything really warm! We got towels wet, and microwaved them so they were nice and warm, and worked over those, that way the humidity and the heat was up, and the membrane stayed flexible, and the chick stayed warm.

Do a search for helping hatch, there are lots of threads with really detailed step by step info! Just remember, dont pull him out of the shell, he is attatched, open the shells, an let them come apart, but let him work his way all the way out, but keep him WARM thermometer on the surface will help you a LOT!

Warm and Moist! Good Luck, it is scary, just go slow.....

 

[chickenpiedpiper]

Quote:
Ok, this was the best info I could find, and I have a laminated copy in my brrooder supply area! It is very helpful!!

 

[mhaines4102]

That is extremely helpful. It is still in the egg, zipped and wrapped in a warm towel in the bater. It is breathing but it looks labored. At first it was breathing very fast, but now it is slowed down and labored. But it looks the same as it did in the egg before I touched it. The membrane is very dried out. The hole in the membrane is only big enough for it's beak. The beak is very large compared to other eggs I've hatched. It cannot move at all really. I have pulled 70% of the shell off the egg and it only has the membrane left around it. It looks like a snake egg.

Just FYI, if I did anything with humidity, it would have been a little high. I kept it between 40 and 50% except when my leghorns hatched last week, then I took it up to 55% for 3 days. I don't know what I've done. This hatch has been bad compared with the leghorns.
Most of these eggs were clear or had a blood ring within 7 days. I left them in and removed them after day 18. Out of 14 eggs, 6 had chicks, and one of those looked under developed when I candled them. I am now on day 22 and only one egg has pipped. This one. The leghorns hatched over 70%. I don't know. Very hard day.

The only difference I know of is that the leghorns were mine, the others were purchased.

 

[mhaines4102]

It expired.

I pulled some of the membrane back to see why, and it was underdeveloped. The yolk sac was still there 1/3 the size of it's body. It looks like a 20 day old instead of 22 day old. Now I'm bummed.

 

[farmergal]

Sorry to hear about that. You win some, you lose some... my last hatch, I successfully hatched out a fully-developed chick that had simply gotten "stuck" (dried membrane). S/he's now over a month old and healthy as a horse.
But, same hatch, another one that I was about to help died before I got to it, and when I pulled back a bit of the shell to see it was all bloody and yolk sac unabsorbed... similar to yours, underdeveloped... it's so strange how some seem to mature at different rates.
I know it's hard but sometimes it's just nature taking its course and the little chickie wasn't meant to be, I guess.

 

[mhaines4102]

Thanks to your advise and the last experience, during this hatch I had a chick that needed assistance and it is out, safe and healthy.

 

[mhaines4102]

Make that 2!