Help please!

[kile529]

So, this evening was supposed to start our "lock down" for 6 eggs that had movement last night. I had planned on going this afternoon to get the shelf liner to give them all traction and also adding the water for lock down. Well, we heard pipping so ran real quick to get the supplies, put the eggs on a paper towel and immediately back under the Brinsea mini-advance top. As I was rushing and cutting the liner, I realized we had one already hatching! Did I mess up? Its not moving a ton, but it is breathing and pipping here and there. At what point should I help it? It literally just got the additional water for the higher humidity. Oh, and this is my first ever hatch!

 

[Glenmar]

Should be fine. This happened to me too. Just give them time.

 

[kile529]

Ok whew!!! Thank you!!

 

[kile529]

Ok, so it's been 21 hours since the chick poked the hole through....beak only is still out and breathing....but not really trying to get out....at what point do I try and help? I have 2 hatched and moving the other eggs around as they move. I'm kinda panicking because I've read that if they get turned, the chicks inside can drown. I'm just stuck waiting aren't I....advice?

 

[sumi]

I could be wrong, but it looks like the chick pipped at the wrong end of the egg? If it's been 21 hours since external pip and there is no progress I would start assisting. This article explains the process step-by-step with pics:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

 

[kile529]

I helped it out a little last night to where it was like this:


Still no improvement so right before I posted this, I took off more of the outer shell. I did get two tiny blood spots, so I immediately stopped, wrapped in a warm damp paper towel (not over the beak) and put it right back in.

 

[kile529]

Freaks me out - the 2 hatched chicks are moving the other eggs like crazy. lol

 

[Impress]

Don't worry too much about the new babies moving the eggs around, chicks are pretty resilient in the hatching stage. That baby does need to be helped though, pipped at the wrong end and looks a bit shrink wrapped to me. Just keep doing what you are doing, help a bit at the time, out it back into the incubator for a while if you get bleeding. They can recover from this situation, just be slow, calm, and persistent.

Good luck!

 

[kile529]

Don't worry too much about the new babies moving the eggs around, chicks are pretty resilient in the hatching stage. That baby does need to be helped though, pipped at the wrong end and looks a bit shrink wrapped to me. Just keep doing what you are doing, help a bit at the time, out it back into the incubator for a while if you get bleeding. They can recover from this situation, just be slow, calm, and persistent.

Good luck!

Thanks!! I ended up realizing that it needed the shell "zipped" like it would normally do. So, I took the shell apart around the tip and was able to fold back a smidge of the membrane away and put it back in. It definitely started to fight more to get out after I did that. The funny thing, is that one of the other chicks was jumping & walking on it and ended up pulling the top half of the chick out! I went to my son's basketball game and came back to it chirping and moving around some. Now, it's resting while the two others are in the brooder box since they were both dry, but it's still in the incubator resting and waiting for the 3 others to hatch. He is a bit more sleepy than the other two, but so far he's doing quite well!

 

[Impress]

Awesome! It sounds like he will be just fine!