Valley Quail pipping on small end of egg

[JenandHerQuails]

Today is day 22 for my valley quails. 10 out of 15 eggs have pipped but one pipped on the pointy end. No chicks are out yet. The one who is on the wrong side has its beak out a little and has made no progress in 24 hours. It rocks the egg, moves its beak side to side but cant seem to zip around the egg. Should I wait till tomorrow night to help it? I really don't want to loose this chick!

I am not touching the incubator since I dont want to jeopardize the other pipping chicks. Please give me any advice you have for this chick. Also any experience with chicks coming out on the wrong end would be helpful too. Thanks!

 

[TwoCrows]

Sometimes chicks don't get into the right position during lock down and end up at the wrong end of the egg. Or it is possible that the air cell is indeed at the smaller end of the egg. All this being said, it is not always an emergency that they are not in the proper position and many times they hatch in a healthy manner.

Pipping can be a long process. Some chicks get started and pop out like popcorn. Others can pip thru the shell and stay this way for a few days, breathing air and absorbing the egg yolk.

So my advice is to leave him be. You don't know what stage he is at in the hatching process and of course it is never good to help them out. The chick may not be healthy enough to hatch, could be ill, sick or have other health issues that might require ending his life.

So, keep us posted and see what happens. I would only intervene if he is half or more out of the shell, appears a bit tired, but seems to be ok.

 

[JenandHerQuails]

Thank you for the advice! I wont touch him. I do know that the air cell is at the large end because I candled last week. It was saddle shaped though. Will this affect the chick? There has been no progress made. The chick is still rocking the egg a lot and moving its beak. At least I know he is still alive! I'm hoping to come home to healthy chicks from the other eggs. They can encourage this chick to come out. I held one of my button chicks near the incubator and the in the egg moved its beak a lot and peeped.

 

[dc3085]

Sometimes chicks don't get into the right position during lock down and end up at the wrong end of the egg. Or it is possible that the air cell is indeed at the smaller end of the egg. All this being said, it is not always an emergency that they are not in the proper position and many times they hatch in a healthy manner.

Pipping can be a long process. Some chicks get started and pop out like popcorn. Others can pip thru the shell and stay this way for a few days, breathing air and absorbing the egg yolk.

So my advice is to leave him be. You don't know what stage he is at in the hatching process and of course it is never good to help them out. The chick may not be healthy enough to hatch, could be ill, sick or have other health issues that might require ending his life.

So, keep us posted and see what happens. I would only intervene if he is half or more out of the shell, appears a bit tired, but seems to be ok

X2. I've seen it take 30 hours for a coturnix chick pip to hatch, so like twocrows said I wouldn't help it out of the shell. Often when you help them out their yolk sac is not fully absorbed yet and that is its own can of worms. When I first started hatching quail I would help chicks hatch now and then. I found that I had to euthanize more of those chicks that what survived, and I can tell you it is not something you want to have to do.

 

[TwoCrows]

Thank you for the advice! I wont touch him. I do know that the air cell is at the large end because I candled last week. It was saddle shaped though. Will this affect the chick? There has been no progress made. The chick is still rocking the egg a lot and moving its beak. At least I know he is still alive! I'm hoping to come home to healthy chicks from the other eggs. They can encourage this chick to come out. I held one of my button chicks near the incubator and the in the egg moved its beak a lot and peeped.

The only thing you might do is enlarge his air hole. If you can see his beak or that he has definitely poked thru the inner membrane, you can, VERY gently, enlarge it. You can use a toothpick, broken in the thickest part so it is not pointy, and delicately open up the air hole so that more oxygen enters the egg. Don't over do it. Just tiny bit more. You don't want to break any blood vessels he still maybe attached to or hurt the chick.

But other than that, I would leave him alone.

And being that the air cell is at the top of the egg in is saddle shaped... Did you have these eggs shipped to you? That is a common shape for air cells from shipped eggs. Make sure you allow your eggs to settle for 12 to 24 hours before setting. And even then, sometimes these air cells just don't behave as you want them too.

Keep us posted! I hope the little guy makes it.

 

[JenandHerQuails]

X2. I've seen it take 30 hours for a coturnix chick pip to hatch, so like twocrows said I wouldn't help it out of the shell. Often when you help them out their yolk sac is not fully absorbed yet and that is its own can of worms. When I first started hatching quail I would help chicks hatch now and then. I found that I had to euthanize more of those chicks that what survived, and I can tell you it is not something you want to have to do.

Its so sad to loose a chick.... I opened a button quail egg that was at day 20 assuming it was dead but it was still alive with an almost absorbed yolk sac.

 

[JenandHerQuails]

The only thing you might do is enlarge his air hole. If you can see his beak or that he has definitely poked thru the inner membrane, you can, VERY gently, enlarge it. You can use a toothpick, broken in the thickest part so it is not pointy, and delicately open up the air hole so that more oxygen enters the egg. Don't over do it. Just tiny bit more. You don't want to break any blood vessels he still maybe attached to or hurt the chick.

But other than that, I would leave him alone.

And being that the air cell is at the top of the egg in is saddle shaped... Did you have these eggs shipped to you? That is a common shape for air cells from shipped eggs. Make sure you allow your eggs to settle for 12 to 24 hours before setting. And even then, sometimes these air cells just don't behave as you want them too.

Keep us posted! I hope the little guy makes it.

The hole is cracked around the edges so I'm hoping that when the chick moves its beak they will fall off. Would opening the incubator shrink the other chicks? The eggs were shipped to me but I only let them sit for 10 hours..... I really hope he makes it too!! The other chicks still haven't started zipping but they have pipped.

 

[TwoCrows]

It is best not to open the lid if it is not necessary at this point, especially for this one that has started to pip. He could really dry up quick. So since you think the cracks/chips in the egg are ready to fall off, I would just let the entire thing be. Don't open the bator until the others have hatched and if he is still having issues, you can deal with them at that point.

And, yes, it is sad to lose them in the egg, but it is worse to lose them after hatch. At leas that is how it is for me.

 

[Ntsees]

I give mines 3 days. If they aren't out by the end of the 3rd day, I assume it's stuck and unable to get out. I'm surprised there are still valley eggs hatching at this time of year.

 

[JenandHerQuails]

Update: So the chick on the wrong side has make progress and keeps pecking away. He has make a line across the egg. I can see feathers and his beak. But he is not making a zip all around the egg.... Just a line toward the large end. Meanwhile, three other chicks hatched with 3 more on the way. So cute! But I now have a problem with a button chick that hatched yesterday. Her head is slanted up looking to the right. I just noticed it today. Is there anything I can do? She is my only red breasted chick!