Well, got the third chick safe and sound. Thank you Oesdog!!! I ended up waiting over 24 hours, and the peeps were getting fainter and fewer, so I candled and made a little pip into the air cell right next to the beak. Sure enough, there was its little beak which had broken through to the air cell in a normal internal pip. The interior membrane was clear around the beak, but white and contracted back from the shell tight around the chick everywhere else. Not sure why this one shrink-wrapped when the others were fine, but there it was. Chick seemed to revive a little with access to room air, and I could still see some good sized veins in the membrane, so I left well enough alone. About 4 hours later, no progress had been made, so I followed some advice Oes linked me to and zipped the end. Again, could see some veins, so I let another 4 hours go by. Checked tonight to find the chick struggling like mad inside the shrink wrap. It had destroyed the shell within reach of it's beak, but could not rotate at all it was so tight in the membrane. Good news was that the veins had dried up, so I proceeded to carefully peel membrane away until it pried itself out of the shell. There was a tiny bit of bleeding from the umbilicus, but otherwise seemed completely unphased. Now it is resting in the incubator, and I will move it to the brooder tomorrow. whew!!!
I am afraid that even though I opened in a humid room, I caused the shrink-wrap when I removed the first 2 chicks. I think from now on I will use my hovabator as a hatcher, because although the Brinsea rocked for the incubation, it is just too small for the new chicks. They couldn't even stand up due to the low ceiling in it. Then I shouldn't need to open until hatch is complete. Lesson learned!
No signs of life from the remaining 2 eggs, but can't hurt to let them go another day or two.
I will post picks tomorrow when s/he is fluffed (hoping it's a she!). Too tired tonight!
