Should we help?

[chickiemom08]

One of the eggs in our incubator started hatching yesterday. It has made very little progress. This is our first time dealing with eggs and we are newbies to the whole chicken thing. Should we help the little one?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

One of the eggs in our incubator started hatching yesterday. It has made very little progress. This is our first time dealing with eggs and we are newbies to the whole chicken thing. Should we help the little one?

Has it been 24 hours? The if yes you can start an assist but if you see bleeding or heavy veining stop and leave it alone until the veining has retracted. Make sure to keep the humidity up as well if you are opening the incubator.

 

[chickiemom08]

I believe it has been over 24 hours now.

 

[chickiemom08]

How would we help?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

How would we help?

I use tweezers and chip away the shell from the pip around the egg. Using q-tips I moisten the inner membrane so I can tell if there's still heavy veining. If not I pull that back as well. If there is still heavy being I put a light coat of non pain relief neosporin and put it back and give it more time. (Vaseline or coconut oil can also be used to keep the membranes moist. After an hour or so I try again repeating the same steps until the chick either frees itself or I can do a full assist.

 

[chickiemom08]

What's a pip? Is that the small hole the chick makes?

 

[Chicken Chat]

What's a pip? Is that the small hole the chick makes?

Yes, the first little hole they make to break thru the shell is a pip. When they start to break the shell following the air cell all the way around, that is called a zip.

 

[chickiemom08]

I don't know what the air cell is.

 

[Chicken Chat]

It's located at the fat end of the egg. If you candle the eggs during incubation, you can see it slowly get bigger as the egg loses weight and the chicks grow. They internally pip into the aircell first and get their first breath. That's when you hear them cheep from the inside. Then they externally pip the shell and they will use the aircell as a guided to break out. I always draw the air cell with a pencil on day 7, 14, and finally at lockdown on day 18 so I can track if they have lost enough weight and to also make sure they are breaking out correctly.

 

[Chicken Chat]

Sorry, couldn't find the picture. Here is your aircell and an idea of how big it should be.