When should I assist the zip?

[FoxholeFarm]

This is my first incubator hatch. I have a bantam that pipped 24hrs ago and zipped half way overnight, but I don't see a beak up to the egg anywhere. I though pip to zip was supposed to be 24hrs max.

How do I know if I should assist with the hatch? How long should I wait for her to finish her zip before I go in and help?

Also, I have a one week old full size chick and two bantams that hatched yesterday. Can I combine them in the brooder or is the ameraucana going to bulldoze my teeny Mille fleurs?

 

[hydrxpxnic]

Let him finish the zip! They usually try to hatch when its quiet, others encourage them with squacking, or at night. If he is rocking the egg, let him do it. If he's doing nothing, he may be sleeping. Its hard to know if they can hatch any further or not. For my first duck, me and my mom had to steam up the bathroom at my house and we peeled the shell away with tweezers. If you decide to assist, DO NOT touch a vein. It will bleed and they can bleed to death. We hit one accidently and put the egg back in the incubator and waited a few hours. Luckily, it was a tiny vein that was almost absorbed and hardly bled. Do not peel away external or internal membranes. Just take off the shell. If you dont assist and he isnt hatching and you wait too long, the membrane can stick to the bird and suffocate him.

 

[FoxholeFarm]

The egg had been still for a few hours by started rocking just now. I've been nervously sitting next to the incubator since I got up. Sounds like I need to just take some deep calming breaths. First time jitters I guess!

 

[hydrxpxnic]

I feel ya! I called off work because I was afraid the cat would hear chirping and try to do something! Could you post a picture of how far he is?

 

[FoxholeFarm]

So after several hours of no rocking and minimal chirping I finally decided to open the incubator and check on her (everyone else has hatched). She is definitely stuck. She cant rotate around in her shell and part of the membrane and shell is glued to her. I chipped away some shell and outer membrane, leaving the inner in tact, wrapped her in a moist warm paper towel and put her back. I'm going to giver her half an hour then do a little more chipping away if she hasn't made progress on her own yet.

 

[hydrxpxnic]

Okay, make sure it is extremely humid in the room youre in while assisting. Running the shower is how I did it. Use q-tips to keep the bird damp and use tweezers if you arent already bc its easier than hands. I hope everything goes okay, please keep me updated!

 

[FoxholeFarm]

Thanks for the advice! I had to go back a second time to chip away a bit more shell and removed more membrane. Once I had gotten the shell off in a ring around her and the membrane was only left in about 1/4inch of that same ring. I let her kick her own way out. She was downed for about 36 hours just sleeping flat on her belly with wings and legs splayed out, but once she was done sleeping, boy was she ever done! She's now the noisiest one of the bunch! She has also stayed a little smaller though despite her feathers maturing at the same rate, but not to any degree that has me worried so I have high hopes for her survival.

Because of her size, we have named her Bonzai.

 

[hydrxpxnic]

Awh I'm so glad everything went okay! Congrats, she's adorable!!