Seramas pipped but slowing down

[shadowbanned]

Hi, I had 4 eggs make it to lockdown and two pipped last night. They haven't made much more progress and they seem to have slowed down like they're getting tired. Today is day 21.

Does this sound normal?

 

[shadowbanned]

 

[Slothinc]

In my experience (which is relatively limited so hopefully others will chime in), after they pip, it can take up to 24 hours and sometimes even longer to start unzipping and hatch. I wouldn’t worry about them yet, that looks totally normal to me! They use this time to absorb the yolk and blood from the veins in the membrane so it is important not to disturb them while they do this.

 

[shadowbanned]

In my experience (which is relatively limited so hopefully others will chime in), after they pip, it can take up to 24 hours and sometimes even longer to start unzipping and hatch. I wouldn’t worry about them yet, that looks totally normal to me! They use this time to absorb the yolk and blood from the veins in the membrane so it is important not to disturb them while they do this.

One hatched! The other still looks the same but I can see it moving.

 

[shadowbanned]

Two hatched. They cracked one of the eggs that isn't doing anything now. Should I just leave it alone?

 

[Slothinc]

Congratulations on your beautiful new babies!! I personally would leave the egg alone. Ive never seen chicks crack another egg in the incubator. Is it possible that the chick pipped? (Hard to tell where the crack is in the photo.)

Regardless, I think I would leave it for now! In my last hatch, the first one hatched Weds afternoon and the last one Friday morning, so there was quite a spread between them.

When the two that have hatched are dry if the other chicks aren’t hatching out then I would grab them very quickly to put them in the brooder. Some people say to leave them in until all eggs have hatched though to ensure the unhatched chicks don’t get shrink wrapped.

 

[shadowbanned]

Ok. I put the incubator in the bathroom so if I need to open it I can run the shower on hot and get the whole room humid. Lol

My last eggs that hatched, same thing. First to hatch went crazy bumping into the others. I think it killed one. It cracked it and some yolk dripped out. Never hatched.

 

[Slothinc]

Great idea to have it in the bathroom, I would run the shower and then take out the two hatched babies when they are dry and you’re ready for them to be in a brooder.

That is so crazy that you’ve had chicks crack eggs twice now. Lol I have had some crazy flailing chicks and luckily not had that happen yet! Fingers crossed for the other two eggs! When you take the other chicks out and have the room all steamy you may want to quick candle them if they aren’t externally pipped by then.

 

[shadowbanned]

It was a pip!

And I did just that. I ran the hot shower before I opened it. I moved them to another incubator with no water. (Preheated) to dry then off while I dealt with the others.

I thought it was cracked because it pipped in the wrong spot! The other 2 were completely malpositioned and would have never made it out on their own.
We'll see if they make it.... yolk was absorbed. One has no feathers on its head.

 

[Slothinc]

Did the little ones survive? There is a really great thread on here about assisted hatching - if you get a chance, maybe you can read through it before your next hatch! Usually it is recommended to just take a little bit of shell off around the head and see if they are able to push through on their own. Some chicks aren’t strong enough, but sometimes they are, and it’s good for them to do!

It sounds like perhaps these eggs needed the help if they had completely absorbed the yolks. The one that popped externally could potentially have hatched - I have actually had many chicks hatch that were malpositioned. But I know that a lot of the time the don’t make it. Would love an update on these two and the first two that hatched! Congrats on your babies!