I have had it take 25 days for a hatch! Just make sure your humidity is good. 65-85% You are NEVER supposed to help a chick out!!! BUT..... If you need to ( and I have) Take the Bator into a steam filled HOT bathroom to open. I fill the room withsteam to keep humidity up and I crank up my small room heater! The hotter the better!!! I look like I was IN the shower when I come out of the bathroom! once open you can asses the situation better and check for pips on the bottoms. I had 1 drown cause he pipped on the bottom. You can remove eggs, shell, and add water if needed. Then just close up and return the bator as before. IF... and I DO NOT!!! recommend this... you can be very careful and use a small knife tip or tweezers to gently help open the hole a tad bit. I will do this ONLY if I have one not making any progress after 24hrs from pip! It allows me to see the membrane and see if it is dried out. if it is you can carefuly mist the egg. I would not reccomend you to try to help hatch!!! If the chick is not ready you can break bloodvesels inside the egg and the chick will bleed to death! I have helped 2 chicks out at different times. Both did not make it!! I was forcd to cull them after 5 days of around the clock help! I would just recomend keeping the temp and humidity good and just wait!!! Mother nature knows best! Even though it can be heart breaking to know they made it this far just to die in the shell. I speak from experience! I know the good and bad of the hatching experience.
Good Luck and God Bless!
