Quail Chicks Not Getting Out???!!! Help

[Grey Bird Farm]

I have 6 coturnix quail eggs in to hatch right not.. today is day 15. 2 pipped yesterday morning. the first one hasn't made it out but the pip is about 3X the size.. the 2nd one hasn't had any difference in the last 12 hrs.

temp is between 99.7 and 100.6 humidity between 60-70% am I off in the settings? I see movement inside the bigger pip but it's very slow progress.... the other 4 eggs haven't pipped at all

any thoughts of advice?
Pip from yesterday morning

Pip from this morning (24 hrs later)Front

Side view of this mornings pip.

 

[meriruka]

This is always a tough call. It's always better for them to get out on their own, but you don't want them to die after having come so far.
Lots of people will say to let nature take it's course, if they're not strong enough to hatch then you don't want them in your flock.
My opinion is that an incubator is an artificial environment which can't exactly duplicate an actual mother hen, so natural selection doesn't come in to the equation.
I give any chick that has pipped around 24 hours to hatch before I start bustin' them out.

 

[shelleyd2008]

The one pictured seems a bit low on the egg, which makes me think that the chick is turned the wrong way. This would cause it to have trouble zipping the shell. I would wait to help it until you see that it's not progressing though, sometimes they just take a while. It is a bit early for them to hatch, so it could just be that it pipped early. Try lowering your temps to around 98-99 degrees, they seem to hatch better if the temps are lower.

 

[smfamf]

Did the egg you opened seem dry. Were the membranes dried to the chick? If so you may need to help them out.

I took a hands-off approach when hatching my chickens and planned to do the same a week later when it was time for my guineas to hatch. I had pips for 2 days before I couldn't take it anymore. When I started helping, I realized that the first one was shrink wrapped. Turns out all of the guineas were shrink wrapped and they were in the same environment as the chickens who hatched fine on their own? I let them pip on their own and only helped them after 18-24 hrs. I only lost two out of 20 that I helped. I don't think that is very bad odds. The two that didn't make it, wouldn't have made it under the best of conditions. Their tummies didn't close up.

 

[Swamp Roo]

I would suspect low humidity, but yours seems fine. If you have empty water slots, I'd fill them with warm water (you don't want to suck the temp down). Might be time to help them along a bit, but I'll let others with more experience chime in on that one. I had my humidity crash on hatch day once, went down to 27%(my own stupid fault). I lost two chicks before I started to peel chicks out. They were a real bear too. They were stuck to the shell, and to themselves. I'd peel the shell off, and they could not "unfurl" because their feathers were all matted and dried. Ended up using a warm moist paper towel to get the feathers to release. Very slow and delicate work to not break wings and such. Best of luck.

Swamp

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Where did the OP say they opened an egg? I don't see that part?

ETA: Guineas and quail need higher humidity than chickens do, I try to keep mine at least 70% humidity.

 

[smfamf]

Sorry I was thinking of another post that I read this morning. My mistake.

My guineas were around 73% during lockdown.

 

[Grey Bird Farm]

These are great suggestions. The little part poking out from the pip doesn't seem like a beak. I saw the beak yesterday and it came from the left while I'm seeing what seems like a little wing/elbow on the right poking in and out and 'fluttering' what if I extend the 'zip' a bit to the left and hopefully closer to the beak so the quail can try and finish on it's own? If I spray it with a mist of warm water could that help?

 

[meriruka]

You could make the opening a little bigger and see what's going on.
You can make sure he's getting air. If he's shrink wrapped, I recommend dabbing warm water on the membrane with your finger - if you mist him there is a chance he could breathe in some water (not good).

 

[silentrunning]

For what it's worth - I have never had a quail live that I had to help out of the egg. Some made it as long as a week, but they were never healthy. Now I just let them go.

Doug