Will they pip and make a hole, but not zip??

[needmorechickens!]

Don't open it or you may impact all your other chicks! I know its hard! Hang in there and let nature do its thing. (of course, this is just my opinion, its your call whether to help or not

)

Good luck!
~Rebecca

 

[Opa]

I just had a hatch where 2 pipped eggs hatched 18 hours after the others. Had not to open the bator.

 

[KellyHM]

I had two that I had to help out in my last hatch. They both pipped but didn't zip. One had a bad leg and one had a cyst on its neck, but they both resolved w/in 24 hours and are now keeping up with everyone else!

 

[steffpeck]

I won't intervine unless it looks like it is going down hill. Right now, I can tell that it moving and breathing just fine. I do have another one hatched and 4 others that are pipping and zipping. Lot's O' Chickies at my house tonight. I have 2 Buff Orp's hatched and 2 Barred Rocks w/ 2 Buff Orp's and 2 Barred Rock's Pipped & Zipping.

 

[swtangel321]

Would love to see pics of them when they are dry !!!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I had one this morning that did that as well. It just had the teeniest hole pipped in the shell. I finally helped it out. All the other chicks hatched so fast, that I just knew something was wrong. It's a good thing I did, because it looks like it was too big for the shell. It was probably a pullet egg, but this hen started laying in a hidden nest, so when I found it, I just took them all and put them in the bator. Now the baby is drying off, with its butter bowl 'cage' around it, so the other 8 don't peck it!

Good luck with yours! I hope it comes out OK. I have had some that pipped and did not hatch for at least a day. My first hatch was so messed up, that some popped right out, and some seemed like they took forever!

Just use your judgment, but if you do decide to help, read the sticky about intervention first, if you haven't already.

 

[swtangel321]

Hows the little one this morning ???? Any more hatching ???

 

[steffpeck]

I did finally help it out. I had another one that had pipped several hours after it and had made a hole about the size of a pencil eraser in the shell and had it's beak sticking out and you could see inside the shell that I noticed wasn't moving or making noise so I started tapping on the top of the bator to get it to move and it wasn't doing anything. All the others that were hatched were running around, and the others that were pipped were going crazy but this one wasn't doing anything, so I quickly took the egg out and the chick was dead. So I went into panic mode and decided I better help the other one that had been pipped since the morning. I did get a little bit of blood so I put it back in the bator and over the next 2 hours or so, I carefully helped it out. It does seem a little bit weak, but it made it through the night. I had1 other hatch and have 1 more pip so I am waiting for this last pip to hatch then I will take the little one out and give it some sugar water to see if I can get it up and around better. I probably should have left it alone, as it obviously wasn't quite ready, because of the bleeding, but I got so worried when the other one died.

I do have 5 Barred Rock's & 4 Buff Orp's hatched with 1 more Barred Rock pipped & zipping. There is 1 Buff egg that doesn't appear to be doing anything yet. They are so cute, and I will post pic's for sure when I take them out later today!!

 

[needmorechickens!]

Sorry the one died...
It's ok about the one you helped...its hard to know what to do especially when another one has died....
Good luck with everything.
~Rebecca

 

[Akane]

It's especially important to be patient with the ones that pip early. Sometimes they seem to jump the gun and start breaking the shell before they are ready. In my experience so far those chicks end up actually being some of the last to finish hatching. I had a couple sit for 2 days while the rest hatched before they were ready to finish zipping. That's why I wait to help any chicks until the others have hatched and there has been no progress or new pips for 24hrs. Some chicks just take longer but if they've gotten nowhere after the others have finished they are probably stuck.

If you think your humidity is too low and the chicks are looking stuck after they start hatching you can add water without opening the incubator and making it worse by using some tubing. The airline tubing sold for running air stones and sponge filters in fish tanks fits nicely through the holes in my hovabator. I slide it in, line it up with the water tray, and then squirt the water in with a syringe.