I intervened on a chick, pipped at the wrong end, on my last hatch. I could see its beak and knew it to be alive, but after 24 hours I took it out and sat it big end down in the bator....................... and after some more time with no progress............. went ahead and removed what was now the top. It was shrink wrapped with only part of the head tore through, so removed the visible membrane too and sat it back in. After a liitle wait, it stood up and finally flopped out of the shell....................... alive and healthy.