Help with hatching!

[PolloGal]

Hi. I have 2 chicken eggs have pipped and zipped and were moving just fine in the shell about 7 hours ago. Now…can’t see any movement for a couple hours, and membrane is turning brown. Humidity remains at about 70%. There are 4 other eggs that have not pipped far as I can see, and 5 fluffy ones that hatched yesterday (the actual hatch day) still in incubator. We haven’ lifted the lid at all for fear of drying out the remaining unhatched eggs shells. We had a few hours power outage 4 days ago, but hooked up the generator pretty quick, so no sure that would have caused a problem. Do I intervene or let nature take it course? This is only my 2nd hatch. Appreciate some help…worried…thank you.

 

[CloneFly]

They may be taking a break.. if the membrane is dried out though, you may need to assist hatch

@SmiYa0126
@Eggcessive

 

[PolloGal]

They may be taking a break.. if the membrane is dried out though, you may need to assist hatch

@SmiYa0126
@Eggcessive

I thought maybe a break too…but concerned about the brownish membrane. Any one have experience enough to know which I should do? Or how much longer I should wait?

 

[CloneFly]

I would follow your gut. Here's a great article on assisted hatching that's helped me quite a bit: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-assist-hatching-video-for-others-to-see.1556665/

If you truly think the baby needs help, I would start small. As long as no one else has pipped, moisten the membrane. (Coconut oil or plain water works well) That should also let you know if the little ones are weak or not. If they seem overly weak, they may not make it by themselves and will need assistance.

 

[PolloGal]

I would follow your gut. Here's a great article on assisted hatching that's helped me quite a bit: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-assist-hatching-video-for-others-to-see.1556665/

If you truly think the baby needs help, I would start small. As long as no one else has pipped, moisten the membrane. (Coconut oil or plain water works well) That should also let you know if the little ones are weak or not. If they seem overly weak, they may not make it by themselves and will need assistance.

Ok. Thank you. I will give them just a bit more time…so I am not being impatient….but that brownish membrane makes me think there could be a problem. I will check out that article and see if I can find a video too, before helping. Thanks for sending it.

 

[CloneFly]

Of course. I hope it all goes well.... keep us updated!

 

[SmiYa0126]

Babies take breaks, hatching is hard work. It will be an ebb and flow of activity for about 24 hours, that's the general time frame. Can you play chick cheeping sounds? That will hurry them up a little.

 

[SmiYa0126]

The chicks don't look like they're dried to the membrane.

 

[Ridgeback825]

7 hours to zip is much further than I'd let them go. I too play chick sounds to encourage them but assist of they seem to have stopped progress for more than 3 hours. The article listed above is a great resource. Hoping for the best! Be sure to post pics!

 

[PolloGal]

I thought maybe a break too…but concerned about the brownish membrane. Any one have experience enough to know which I should do? Or how much longer I should wait?

Babies take breaks, hatching is hard work. It will be an ebb and flow of activity for about 24 hours, that's the general time frame. Can you play chick cheeping sounds? That will hurry them up a little.

Yes I can do that! Plus, they have 5 chicks in the incubator with them. I am willing to wait longer…not rush them. But, does it mean that they are not doing well if the membrane becomes brownish like in the photos I posted?