Its been 24 hrs. since pipping...HELP

[GoodLuckCharlie!]

The first egg has pipped and zipped, and its chirping, but it started yesterday morning at 6am, and it has now been 26 hours and it still isn't out of its shell. I have 2 more eggs pipping next to that one. The humidity was between 40-50% the first 18 days and then I haven't been able to get it above 55-60% since then. Its a homemade incubator: large plastic tub, I have the light bulb screwed into the middle of the lid, 2 glass windows on either side of the light, holes that are taped closed, the lid taped closed, a loaf pan of water with a screen over it to keep it separated from the light and chicks from drowning, 2 plastic dishes with sponges in them. I tin foiled the inside of the whole thing to help with heat. I threw in a couple wet hand towels on day 19. I keep lifting the tape on the windows and refilling the water bowls and spraying water into it over the eggs to try to up the moisture. I really don't know how else to get the humidity up, and I don't know if this first egg is going to finish hatching. How long between zipping and fulling hatching, and should I be worried about the humidity problem at this point? Thanks.

 

[BawGock]

If it's been 26hrs since it completed its zip, I would help it out.
Sometimes the humidity was a little high and the extra moisture in the egg acts as a glue.
just very carefully lift the top of the zipped shell from the chick, you'll have to take the egg out to do this.
Have some warm water on hand to loosen the really stuck parts.

Carolyn

 

[hennypenny99]

Well I have only hatched once but since no one else has replied yet I will tell you about my experience. On my eggs they would pip and then wait up to 28 hours before they started to zip. I think maybe pipping is so tiring that they need to rest a bit or maybe they are still absorbing the yolk. Once they actually started zipping most of them took 20 minutes to an hour or two to zip. Some are faster than others. I had several that zipped and popped right out of their egg immediately and I had another that zipped, sat for awhile, finally popped off the top half of his shell and then sat there inside of his egg for at least 8 to 12 hours before finally coming out. Hopefully your chick just needs to rest after all that hard work.

 

[GoodLuckCharlie!]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the advice and comments. It was helpful to know what experiences you had and I ended up getting brave and opening the shell for the first egg. I washed my hands, then put a towel over my hands and area I opened on the incubator, wet my hands and stuck them in through the side between the glass and lid, and opened the shell and carefully moved the other end of the shell and the chick fell out easily. It looks like the yolk and all was fully absorbed and the chick is actually looking really well. I really expected it to look sickly or lathargic for me doing this. There's 3 others piping, I still am unsure about the humidity, but I'm wondering since this first one is going on 28 hours since piping, if I should remove it quickly to the brooder (another plastic tub all set up with food and water and shavings. What do you think? Thanks again for the help.