When to help them out...

[amynbrent]

I have only hatched a few chicks in an incubator...2011 was my first time raising chickens and now I'm addicted! I had 20 set on the second and as time went on only two were good eggs. One pipped about 8:00 this morning and was rocking and rolling and chirping. It is now 10:30 and the movement has slowed and the pip really isnt much bigger. The second egg I was not to sure about, the last time I candled it before lock down something just didnt look right to me. Anyway that little one pipped about 4 hours ago and his pip mark is much bigger than the one from this morning. He was real active but now they are both pretty still. Every now and then I hear them chirp. Can this go on all night? I'm worried that they may not make it, I couldnt get the humidity all the way up. It got there at lock down but now it's just below the normal mark into the dry. I used a dropper and put some water down the holes onto the towel that in there but it's not coming up. Do I let them be? I have two more in another incubator, they are not suppose to hatch until around Wed and those are all ready moving around and chirping. This is more stressful than when I was having my own kids!!!!

 

[berniezahm]

Chicks will pipp and then rest and pipp some more. They can easily take more than 24 hours to get out of the shell. I don't help a chick pout untill 48 hours has gone by since the pipping started. Some people claim the process of struggeling to get out of the shell is necessary for the chick to develope correctly, however most I've helped were just fine. In addition to the incubators in my signature line below, I've since aquired a Sportsman 1202. I think this year I'll beat my 500 chick hatching rate for last year. !85 eggs in bators as I type this.

 

[amynbrent]

Thanks....I really didnt want to help them out. The few I hatched before were quick, they pipped and a few hours later I walked in and they were walking around. I figured they would tire out and settle down, my main concern was the humidity.

 

[clayb226]

I have only hatched a few chicks, but I helped one out, it lived for 5 weeks, was always smaller than the rest, and then it died??