Should I help?

[Ravynscroft]

No. It's getting weaker and still trying but slowing down

It might be winding down to rest...

 

[Brookem51887]

It might be winding down to rest...

Hope that's all it is! I'm worried it's getting shrink wrapped

 

[chickens really]

Stop worrying.....Only time will tell....Do not touch that egg....piping and zipping take days and hours....

 

[WVduckchick]

like I said earlier, more patience, less candling.

the reason we stop turning the eggs is to let the creature inside orientate himself.
by picking up the egg and putting it down you are confusing the baby.
don't you have someone you can go visit for a few days ?
You have to leave those eggs alone.
they were distressed when you got them, so this is less than an ideal hatch.
you have to get used to the idea that not all eggs will hatch. you will have to develop the attitude"
If they make it, they make it,
If they don't, they don't.
and I consider candling unnecessary for a good hatch.
If it is done at all, it should be to locate any clear or bad egg for culling.
when I have a thousand eggs doing, I don't find a need to candle.
If I get a bad egg, it will let me know by the odor. I locate it and toss it. usualy it will be a cracked one.
If you want to candle, do it as you are first setting the eggs. then you can locate a cracked one early and get rid of it.
I have never had an egg explode in the incubator.

While i agree with your caution, i will let my hen answer you. I handled these eggs myself, i moved her to a private area on day 19, with an internal pip! Every chick hatched.

Eggs everywhere, brother and sister being taught to eat and drink. Notice exposed pip.


Chick is zipping, still exposed


with a little help from brother and sister, a baby chick emerges. I watched it all unfold from above.

 

[ronott1]

There are a lot of studies that show the benefits of periodic cooling in incubation of Chicken, Duck and Goose eggs. I just read one about geese--cooling for 15 minutes a day and then a bit before hatching to spray them with water too.

This pdf has a bunch of studies that you can look up to see what science has to say about periodic cooling:

http://www.epsaegypt.com/pdf/2011_june/15- 1271.pdf

 

[chickens really]

Lots of studies but is going over the realm of in house incubation.....
We are not scientists but backyard hatchers helping others if we can?....Hence BYC?.....

 

[ronott1]

Lots of studies but is going over the realm of in house incubation.....
We are not scientists but backyard hatchers helping others if we can?....Hence BYC?.....

From personal experience, cooling helps make the chicks hatch better and more of them. I have used the cool down cycle on my brinsea and took the lid off of my Genesis 1588 for about and hour from day 8 to 18. This is at home in my closet too Definitely not commercial...

It really helps with shipped eggs especially

 

[ronott1]

Oh and hi too!

Regarding the cool down cycle, it is a fine tuning and fiddely thing to do. It is much better to focus on temperature stability and humidity control. After that is going well, fine tuning like the cool down cycle can help a bit but is not super important.

It can push you closer to a perfect hatch though.

 

[chickens really]

Hmmm...Ill have to see?...I have excellent hatch rates with my method...Interesting..
Not dogging your way...I'm interested in all methods....

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Candling does not affect the hatch rate...

Amen, sister. Being an everyday candler, having hit 100% twice and having regular 85-100% hatches, I totally agree. Unless you drop the eggs or have filthy dirty disgusting hands and rub all sorts of bacteria in there, or are shaking the eggs, candeling is safe and educational. Not only do I candle daily....but straight through hatch!