Watching one "grow" out of the egg!

[Hoosier_RIRs]

One last egg to hatch in the incubator.... and it isn't normal! It pipped just fine, has been chirpping and rocking all day... but not fighting it's way out like normal.... for the last 24 hours or so it just seems content to grow until the shell cracks more and more... I know k=not to "help out" but dang.....
Anyone else just sit and watch a baby chick grow out of it's shell?

 

[suzettex5]

It can take a day or even 2 for a chick to hatch. It may just be tired and taking a break. As long as you hear/see that the chick is alive, its usually best to just wait.

Be sure your humidity is high though so the membrane inside the egg that is around the chick doesnt dry out and trap it, preventing it from moving and hatching.
Personally, I have helped chicks at the end of hatching, others I have let do it themselves or die trying. I have had sucess with putting a warm, wet washcloth under the hatching egg, which seemed to help it and get it to hatch out fairly quickly after a long attempt to hatch.

Problem with helping is, its sooooooo easy to tear a blood vessel and the chick dies of blood loss before it can fully hatch. Another issue is, the chick needs to struggle to absorb the blood in the membrane vessels AND to absorb the last of the egg yolk into its abdomen before fully hatching- an too early intervention can mess up that process and usually will end in death to the chick.

If you do decide to help, go slowly, and be ready to put it back into the bator if you see any blood, and keep a warm, wet washcloth (wrung out, not dripping wet) at your side to put the egg on (inside the incubator) to help keep it moist. Keep an eye and ear on it!

Keep us posted!!

 

[Hoosier_RIRs]

Over the last 5 or 6 years I've hatched 120 or so successfully and have had my share of "quitters" and "candled good at day 14" eggs to disappoint me. This one - on the other hand, after sitting through my eighth hatch kinda baffles me. It is still alive, takes hours of breaks, pipped at day 19 and now that it is day 22 and everyone around him has hatched.... seem content to have a 3/4 open shell so that I can see most of it's body, and know that its breathing quite well, but refuses to come completely out of it's shell.
hmmmmmm.... perhaps I'll call it "egghead" after that little cartoon chicken that was still in the egg with just his feet sticking out.... I'm pretty sure that it will be a "special" chicken.. but aren't they all?!

 

[suzettex5]

awwww, sounds like you got a stubborn one! Have you ever helped a chick before? I think this chick is going to make it- just in its own time! LOL! It sounds like you could easily just pick it up in your hand and kinda hold the big part of the shell and just kinda wiggle/pour it out of the rest its shell- if you wanted too. Ive done that before with a slow hatcher just so I could get them all into the brooder at the same time and finally turn off the incubator! It is kinda cool to have a chick 'born' right in the palm of your hand!

 

[Hoosier_RIRs]

I've never help one out, and that has taken a lot of self-control. This little guy finally hatched out. (better late than never) this morning he seems "perfectly normal"! For me I'm pretty sure this one set a record for taking so long to crawl out of the shell.