What to do with this egg?

[chuckachucka]

My silkie is currently sitting on one egg. I wasn't going to let her brood any chicks because its the middle of winter so took all her eggs away, but after sitting on the nest for a full day she laid one last egg. I decided to let her sit on it and see what happened.

I wasn't even sure it was fertilised because she had been separated from my cockerel for a few days before laying it. She is a first time mum to be and the temperatures have been very low, so I wasn't sure it would develop.

Well it did. Through the snow and the minus temps, she sat on that egg. I candled it and it was definitely developing. However, today is day 24 and it is showing no signs of hatching.

I'm very much a believer of assisted hatching (I know, I know someone people aren't) and have intervened with eggs in an incubator before with good results. So today I got that egg and tried the float test, and it moved! Then I could not resist just poking a tiny hole in the shell over the air cell.

I have now put the egg back under the silkie but am wondering what to do next. Should I try to intervene more if there are still no further developments tomorrow? Should I bring it in and put it in the incubator so I can monitor it better? Or should I just leave it with the broody and trust nature?

This is Peanut:

 

[Pyxis]

Did you candle it to make sure it was internally pipped before putting a safety hole in it? You really shouldn't put a safety hole in until it is already internally pipped, because there's no reason to do so beforehand and the hole can let bacteria into the egg and also cause the egg to lose more moisture than it should.

You really need to candle it to see what's going on in it if you haven't already. Chances are the very cold temperatures have delayed its development and it's just late.

Also, I am not a fan of the float test, anything it can tell you can be determined by candling, and it could give a false positive or a false negative, so you should also candle just to make sure the chick is, in fact, still alive.

 

[chuckachucka]

I know there are risks to making a hole in the shell but I hate to think of it suffocating in there if it does manage to internal pip. I don't have a good enough candler to be able to see if there is an internal pip, though. The last time I candles it was just solid dark with a large air cell.
I definitely saw it moving in the water so I am confident it is alive, but it's already day 24. I'm intending to leave it until tomorrow morning and then I might have to do something if there is no change.

 

[Pyxis]

My advice is to get a good enough flashlight to see into the egg before doing anything else. I am an assisted hatcher too, but assisting when you can't see what you're doing is a great way to kill a chick. I bought a small $20 flashlight at Walmart and it can see in anything aside from dark marans eggs and olive eggs.

 

[chuckachucka]

Ok I will try to have another look. What should I do if I do see an internal pip, or if I don't?

 

[chuckachucka]

Is there much hope for this chick after 24 days?

 

[MageofMist]

Is there much hope for this chick after 24 days?

Not a chicken, but I did once have a quail hatch on day 24 instead of day 18. With it being cold, the chick will likely take a bit longer to hatch than usual.