My hen started brooding on 7 eggs a while ago. I separated her inside the nest box to keep other hens away from the chicks once they hatch. On the 21 day 2 had hatched and some others had pips. On the 22 day 6 had hatched and the last egg had not even piped. The hen still kept sitting on the egg but was eager to get off the nest with her 6 chicks. A short while later she stopped sitting on the still un-piped egg. I had to go to school so I pushed the egg back under the hen and she seemed to sit on it again! When I came home she was walking around in the nest box trying to get out with her chicks. The egg was cold. I quickly took the egg inside and put it into a small bowl floating on some warm water with an aquarium heater in it at around 32 degrees Celsius. I could hear the chick inside chirp and try to pip. I waited another hour and still nothing. Since it was already way behind the rest of the eggs I decided that I would have to assist it in hatching. I went on here and found the "Step by Step Guide to ASSISTED Hatching" by Sally Sunshine. I have to say that without that article I could have made many mistakes which could have caused me to loose the chick. So thank you Sally Sunshine if you're reading this 
I candled the egg to see where the chicks' beak was positioned and drew a X there so I could create a piping hole.
Then I started scratching out the X until I got through the shell.
Then I used a pair of tweezers to make a small piping hole.
Looks like I was at the right spot to create the pip. I was so proud of myself at that moment even though I was far from finished!
I put it back into a improvised incubator which worked great. I used a heat lamp and some wet tissue papers for moisture.
I waited for more than 7 hours and the chick didn't start to unzip and had made almost no progress except making the pip bigger. It started peeping a lot so I started unzipping the egg from the outside like a chick would do it from the inside and removed the cap.
As you can see all the veins have almost disappeared and the ones that are left are as thin as a hair.
I put it back into the "incubator" and kept the membrane moist!
After some time I started removing the membrane around the chick. As I removed the membrane there was absolutely no bleeding at all which means that the chick was mature and that it was ready to hatch.
As soon as I removed the membrane it's wing popped out. Soon one of its legs also started emerging. I noticed that over its head I had still left a rather large piece of shell that prevented its head from getting out so I removed that little bit of shell and the chick almost popped out in my hand.
When it finally got out completely I noticed something whitish attached to its bottom and to the shell. I did a quick search and apparently it was just a piece of membrane which could be cut off.
After some time in the brooder it was starting to move around some more!
I still don't know why it didn't manage to pip. Maybe the shell was just too hard or it was just too weak. It did, and still has, some small issues with balance and precision but is managing just fine with eating and drinking. Today I put the chick to the mother and other chicks. The mother noticed that it was new but immediately accepted it. It is still a but wobbly on its feet compared to the other chicks but seems to be doing great with the others. Sadly two of the others had previously disappeared (Probably got eaten by another chicken. But now I triple-proofed the fence that separates them and now it should be safe!
I hope I will have to assist some more hatches since this was very educational and exiting.
Again thank you to Sally Sunshine you're article really helped a lot
If you haven't read through "Step by Step to ASSISTED Hatching" here is the link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching
It will be very useful guide to anyone who has to assist their first egg.
I candled the egg to see where the chicks' beak was positioned and drew a X there so I could create a piping hole.
Then I started scratching out the X until I got through the shell.
Then I used a pair of tweezers to make a small piping hole.
Looks like I was at the right spot to create the pip.
I was so proud of myself at that moment even though I was far from finished!I put it back into a improvised incubator which worked great. I used a heat lamp and some wet tissue papers for moisture.
I waited for more than 7 hours and the chick didn't start to unzip and had made almost no progress except making the pip bigger. It started peeping a lot so I started unzipping the egg from the outside like a chick would do it from the inside and removed the cap.
As you can see all the veins have almost disappeared and the ones that are left are as thin as a hair.
I put it back into the "incubator" and kept the membrane moist!
After some time I started removing the membrane around the chick. As I removed the membrane there was absolutely no bleeding at all which means that the chick was mature and that it was ready to hatch.
As soon as I removed the membrane it's wing popped out. Soon one of its legs also started emerging. I noticed that over its head I had still left a rather large piece of shell that prevented its head from getting out so I removed that little bit of shell and the chick almost popped out in my hand.
When it finally got out completely I noticed something whitish attached to its bottom and to the shell. I did a quick search and apparently it was just a piece of membrane which could be cut off.
After some time in the brooder it was starting to move around some more!
I still don't know why it didn't manage to pip. Maybe the shell was just too hard or it was just too weak. It did, and still has, some small issues with balance and precision but is managing just fine with eating and drinking. Today I put the chick to the mother and other chicks. The mother noticed that it was new but immediately accepted it. It is still a but wobbly on its feet compared to the other chicks but seems to be doing great with the others. Sadly two of the others had previously disappeared (Probably got eaten by another chicken. But now I triple-proofed the fence that separates them and now it should be safe!
I hope I will have to assist some more hatches since this was very educational and exiting.
Again thank you to Sally Sunshine you're article really helped a lot
If you haven't read through "Step by Step to ASSISTED Hatching" here is the link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching
It will be very useful guide to anyone who has to assist their first egg.
