Should I help...

[SuellenMishke]

Hi. This is my first time incubating. This one pipped around 6am and as of 4:30pm this is as far as it has gotten. You can see it’s beak poking through the hole. Is it going to need me to help it hatch the rest of the way. It’s day 23. Thanks.

 

[chuckachucka]

Do you know when it enlarged the hole to this stage? By that I mean the chick will have pipped a tiny crack in the shell then rest for a while, sometimes more than 12 hours, then start enlarging the hole to zip. If it made the hole bigger hours ago and then stopped it is more likely something is wrong.

I would wait until 6pm, 12 hours after pip, before assisting.

 

[RodNTN]

The membrane is still white, but looks hard. @WVduckchick
It hasn't been all that long, so I would wait to do anything until an expert comes along.

 

[chuckachucka]

I will add that I am very much pro-assisting. After 12 hours I would be peeling that little chick out of there. By this stage it is relatively easy to assist. The chick should be almost ready to come out.

 

[SuellenMishke]

Thanks. I think I am going to go ahead assist him and hope for the best. Thanks for the input.

 

[chuckachucka]

Have you assisted a hatch before?

 

[SuellenMishke]

I “unzipped” the shell some for him and there is blood coming out. What would that be from?

 

[chuckachucka]

Stop immediately if you see any blood. There are veins all through the membranes and they shrink back slowly as the chick hatches. Peel away only areas with no veins left. Once there is no more clear membrane and still blood vessels, put the egg back in the incubator for a couple of hours and try again.

 

[chuckachucka]

It's best to carefully remove the top of the egg shell over the air cell with tweezers in small pieces until you have the top open in a circle. Then moisten the membranes with some kind of oil, coconut or olive are great. Then you can assess the vein situation. When damp the veins are very red. If the membranes are pale the veins have shrunk back.

 

[chuckachucka]

If there are still veins in the top membrane then it will be up to 6 hours before the chick will be hatched. If the top membrane is clear it will likey be less. Minimum a couple of hours when there is still bleeding.