In need of advice!!

[FlyFisherWV]

Thanks for the help all! Wanted to update you all, the blue one didn't make it. I assume he suffocated before getting out. The second on has been breathing for almost 24 hours and I decided to make an air hole so he didn't face the same fate. Is this the correct decision?

 

[Pyxis]

Yes, that was a good choice. It won't hurt anything and hopefully he'll take it from there and finish hatching on his own

 

[FlyFisherWV]

Awesome thank you Pyxis! We have 3 others started at that same time that have not yet pipped, so I am hoping they make a showing and I get a hang of when they need help and when they don't.

 

[FlyFisherWV]

Another update... now about 4 hours after creating the external pip for the other healthy one he is dead. I have had two failures now and am about to just give up on the whole lot. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Pyxis]

Sorry you lost another one What was your humidity and temperature throughout incubation? Late deaths like this are usually an indication of one of these being incorrect.

 

[FlyFisherWV]

Constant 99 degrees and 55-60% humidity. when they began their escape attempt we raised humidity to 70%

 

[Pyxis]

You humidity may have been a little high for them during incubation - how did the air cells look? On the ones that died, can you crack them open and see if there's a lot of liquid in there?

Here's an air cell chart to compare to:

 

[FlyFisherWV]

The air cells look great. I'm just afraid that the membrane dried up after we cracked into the shell.

 

[Bird-Brain101]

We've had that same thing! The inner clear casing dried up into a hard layer! I believe that it was because when the chick started to pip it was too weak to carry on, so it gave up and it was too late for the hen to continue pipping and the inner part dried, we then manually opened the egg being very, very careful to opening it, and it was successful, the chick made it out alive.Before you open any egg shells you should be positive that the chick is trying to pip, and has started to. Also make sure that none of the eggs get rotated again once they have started to pip, this causes the chick to pip at the bottom, making no progress, and it will become too weak and will die.

Very sorry about the chick,

Best wishes,
-Birdbrain101

 

[FridayYet]

We've had that same thing! The inner clear casing dried up into a hard layer! I believe that it was because when the chick started to pip it was too weak to carry on, so it gave up and it was too late for the hen to continue pipping and the inner part dried, we then manually opened the egg being very, very careful to opening it, and it was successful, the chick made it out alive.Before you open any egg shells you should be positive that the chick is trying to pip, and has started to. Also make sure that none of the eggs get rotated again once they have started to pip, this causes the chick to pip at the bottom, making no progress, and it will become too weak and will die.

Very sorry about the chick,

Best wishes,
-Birdbrain101

Actually, I have had several eggs pip at the bottom (faced down) and spin in the egg just fine to make a lovely zip. I've also had eggs in various stages get kicked, rolled, spun and trampled by other chicks that have already hatched, and still hatch just fine.

If you have to assist, the chick isn't in the best shape, so all you can do is give it the best chance you possibly can. Sometimes it's just not enough and the chick expires anyways - not due to anything you did or did not do.