What went wrong?

[eanne06]

What happened? 3/5 eggs hatched successfully and without intervention. Pretty sure the 4th egg died pre-lockdown as there was no movement at all when I candled on the 18th, but this egg, the 5th, was doing great at lockdown and was moving a ton on in the incubator on the 20th day. I woke up yesterday to two healthy chicks, one pipped egg that went on to hatch successfully and this one. Possibly started to zip but couldn't finish for some reason? It pipped on the underside of the middle. Could that have prevented it from zipping? The membrane was super dry, but another egg went on to hatch without issue. Did an eggtopsy and I think everything looks right. Can you weigh in? Humidity was between 60-65 as the other eggs hatched.














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[Pequena ave]

Things like this just happen, sad to see sometimes. Maybe the other hatchlings bumped it from right side up and it just wasn’t able to move around in its shell, looks like it could have been shrink wrapped. It was trying to unzip but couldn’t wiggle around in its shell. I do assist in some cases if that is the case, sometimes it’s just too late. Rip little one.

 

[spartacus_63]

Hard to tell from the pictures, but based on pip location it was likely malpositioned and unable to unzip.
When this happens with mine, I typically assist and have a very good success rate.

 

[Offshoreorca]

Hard to tell from the pictures, but based on pip location it was likely malpositioned and unable to unzip.
When this happens with mine, I typically assist and have a very good success rate.

x2 I would agree with this - makes it hard for them to successfully zip on their own.

 

[kyeschicks]

I would also say it's related to the mispositioning. Some are able to hatch, but some are not.

 

[als77]

I would also say it's related to the mispositioning. Some are able to hatch, but some are not.

How much time should one give for zipping until intervening?
One of my quails (the egg to the left) is taking the long route (zipping on the middle of the egg, and not towards the top). It is still zipping, but have been working on it for 4 hours...

 

[Offshoreorca]

How much time should one give for zipping until intervening?
One of my quails (the egg to the left) is taking the long route (zipping on the middle of the egg, and not towards the top). It is still zipping, but have been working on it for 4 hours...

View attachment 2532053

I don't know how it would be for quails, but with chickens I typically intervene after an hour of zipping (if it's truly trying to zip) as they can get stuck sometimes - particularly if it's malpositioned. The fact that the chick started zipping usually means it's ready to come out. Make sure it's actually zipping and not just making the hole a bit larger around the external pip as that happens too.

 

[als77]

Can't really tell from the picture (since someone has been playing sibling soccer), but I am convinced that this fellow is trying to zip. (S)he has removed several large chunks of the shell (unlike the ones who have hatched, only one or two of them had part of the shell fall of) - and the length of the zip is also rather long. (S)he is still trying though, and I don't want to intervene if (s)he will be successful by himself/herself, but would hate for him/her to not make it just because of an unfortunate starting-point of the pip

 

[Offshoreorca]

Can't really tell from the picture (since someone has been playing sibling soccer), but I am convinced that this fellow is trying to zip. (S)he has removed several large chunks of the shell (unlike the ones who have hatched, only one or two of them had part of the shell fall of) - and the length of the zip is also rather long. (S)he is still trying though, and I don't want to intervene if (s)he will be successful by himself/herself, but would hate for him/her to not make it just because of an unfortunate starting-point of the pip

View attachment 2532078

If the chick can breath, you can wait for a while to make sure. You risk killing it if it comes out too early, so it's a delicate balance. Signs to look for are a chewing motion from the beak - means it's still absorbing yolk. It's very hard to see, but if the whole is just what I see there, it might not be zipping yet. If you read up about assisted hatching and know what you're doing, you can always investigate further and see if it needs assistance. I sometimes peel away a piece of shell or two to see if it's stuck and if the blood is all dried up/absorbed. When did it pip? Most people who assist won't wait for more than 24hrs before helping it hatch - possibly shorter for quails, but I don't have experience with them.

 

[Offshoreorca]

Can't really tell from the picture (since someone has been playing sibling soccer), but I am convinced that this fellow is trying to zip. (S)he has removed several large chunks of the shell (unlike the ones who have hatched, only one or two of them had part of the shell fall of) - and the length of the zip is also rather long. (S)he is still trying though, and I don't want to intervene if (s)he will be successful by himself/herself, but would hate for him/her to not make it just because of an unfortunate starting-point of the pip

View attachment 2532078

If it is a true zip, then I would assist as four hours is quite long for a zip and may indicate issues such as malpositioning or being stuck/shrink-wrapped - that judgement is up to you though.