Please Help With Incubation!!

IHeartChickens10

Chirping
Jul 29, 2023
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I'm incubating chicks for the first time, and I had two pip last night. One has hatched but the other one still has not zipped. There is a hole in the shell and her beak is moving around in there. She keeps chewing at the shell but she doesn't seem to do much more than that. She's been in there for about 15hours now and I'm getting a bit worried. Seems a bit odd.
 
Give it 24 hours before you assist with peeling the shell. All chicks zip at various times, some go quickly others need a little more time due to them finishing there absorption of there yolk sac.
Thank you :) I'm trying just to calm down and wait it out. She seems to be breathing fine and everything, so hopefully it'll turn out okay.
 
I'm incubating chicks for the first time, and I had two pip last night. One has hatched but the other one still has not zipped. There is a hole in the shell and her beak is moving around in there. She keeps chewing at the shell but she doesn't seem to do much more than that. She's been in there for about 15hours now and I'm getting a bit worried. Seems a bit odd.
It may seem counterintuitive, but a pipped chick that you can see moving its beak around in a "chewing" type motion is still absorbing its veins and yolk sac, and not ready to hatch. Sometimes it IS necessary to assist, but your chick in question isn't ready to come out of its shell yet. When it is ready to do so, it will likely hatch with no help from you. But just in case, here is an article that is a must-read for anyone who hatches chicks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/
 
Hi there~ How is your egg doing, is the chick still chewing (alternating with napping)? Can you hear it chirping through the shell?

Just hatched my first batch of chicks a couple weeks ago and I know how you feel, it seems to take forever especially when other chicks have hatched earlier/faster already. It was really hard to wait and worry but I didn't help any of them and they all made it out healthy. Hopefully yours will be out soon too!
 
I'm incubating chicks for the first time, and I had two pip last night. One has hatched but the other one still has not zipped. There is a hole in the shell and her beak is moving around in there. She keeps chewing at the shell but she doesn't seem to do much more than that. She's been in there for about 15hours now and I'm getting a bit worried. Seems a bit odd.
What is a zip??
 
What is a zip
After the chick 'pips', or makes a hole in the shell, it will 'zip'. This is when the chick turns around in the egg, cracking the eggshell all the way around the egg as it goes, effectively hatching. It is part of the three basic hatching steps:
1.Internal Pip
2.External Pip
3.Zip (or hatching)
 

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