Once it's zipped, how long?? Should I help it?

[citychickers]

Okay guys. It's now been officially 5 hours since it zipped. The last change in the shell was over 2 hours ago.


Should I help it open??????

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I would give him a few more hours. He could still be absorbing the yolk

 

[citychickers]

Thank you. I will wait.

 

[lockedhearts]

Just be patient, as Stevie said they can still be absorbing even though pipped and zipped.

 

[klf73]

well, I am an inpatient person. I have yet to have a chick zip unless they were ready to hatch. The way I think about it is the chick, if the membrane is zipped, has already severed the network of veins and is ready to hatch. The only way I would think there could be a problem is if the temps were high. So, I personally, would help the chick out, but that's just me. To bring the humidity back up I just add a little hot water to my container and that compensates the fact I opened it.

 

[MissPrissy]

Whistle. Whistle. Loud. Coax it out. Don't hatch it yourself. The yolk can still be unabsorbed.

 

[Riocotesei]

The chicks that I have helped from my hatches have died after a few days. I think if they were meant to hatch, they will. I learned my lesson, so I will not help anymore.
Good luck with your baby.

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
This is exactly right! Let nature decide. Not every egg is intended to hatch & "helping" rarely works out well.

 

[Fudgie]

My only advice is if there is not an opening in the membrane, make sure there is, so the chick can breathe. Otherwise, leave it be.

 

[citychickers]

Okay.

We waited until about 10 minutes ago and decided to quickly pull out the egg. The beak was on the underside (it hadn't moved for hours) and we EASILY pulled off a huge hunk of shell to see the chick had died. My guess was a couple of hours ago, when the last zip happened. It looked like a beautiful, reddish blonde, red frizzle cochin bantam just like the one that is healthy and screeching in the incubator.

We removed the other two eggs that should have hatched this last weekend. We knew that they were long gone.

We quickly listened to the last egg that hasn't hatched (due Thurs-Fri) and there is tapping. We loaded the bator with more warm water to boost the humidity.