HELP!!! ASAP!!!! Chick may be stuck!

[thechxwhisperer]

One of my incubating eggs pipped this morning probably around 5 or 6, its almost 4 now! The chick is moving inside, but barely chirping. Should I help the chick?

 

[thechxwhisperer]

This is also my first time incubating/hatching eggs!

 

[thechxwhisperer]

I can see the chick through the crack it made, it's moving, but it's not coming out!

 

[thechxwhisperer]

Please help!!!

 

[bobbi-j]

Be patient and let it hatch on its own. Chicks have been hatching for centuries without human intervention. It can take up to 24 hours and sometimes more for a chick to hatch. Often, more harm is done when people try to "help" a hatching chick. Hatching is hard work. They pip, they rest. They zip, they rest. They rest quite a bit while hatching. During this time, they finish absorbing the yolk and finish getting ready to hatch. If you try to "help", it may be before the chick is ready. Not all chicks are strong enough to hatch on their own. Sometimes this is because they're deformed and will not live anyway, or suffer if kept alive. Sometimes they don't hatch because the membrane dries out (which can happen when opening the incubator for too long or too often) and they can't get through it. I know people do help chicks to hatch, and some of them are successful. I personally have never had good luck with it. I am more of a hands off type of hatcher. I figure the ones that made it are strong enough to survive, the ones that didn't weren't.

 

[nab58]

That's how it's supposed to go! They pip and then take a very long break. Once they start to zip, they usually hatch within an hour so so.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

X2 on the above posters let nature take its course. Takes many many hours for them to hatch. Patience really is a virtue when it comes to hatching. I too am a hands off hatcher I don't open the incubator for any thing untill hatch is complete. Hatching is natures way of weeding out the weak birds.

Good luck and sit on those hands!