Worried first timer on hatch day, help!

These might just be slow, don't try to break open the shell. Often, if a chick cannot overcome this first hardship of hatching, it will likely be weak and the others may peck it or it may be sick. You may want to help the chick, but you will have to be prepared that it may die later or be picked on. Good luck!

 

Give the chicks up to a day or so from the time they pipped to get out on their own, and if they are still stuck then you will probably need to help them out. Break the shell slowly around the air cell, and stop if you see any blood -in which case moisten the membrane either with warm water or I've seen some on here use coconut oil and wait a while. Once the shell and membrane are out of the way, the chick should be able to kick itself free of the egg, but make sure its yolk is absorbed. Otherwise it will need to be kept in the egg until it does that.

I'm not sure why so many people say helped chicks are sure to be weak and die. Yes, a lot of them need extra care in the beginning, and some die, but I've had several chicks that needed lots of help that are now big, strong adult chickens.

 

Chicks often take as much as 24 hours after pip to progress to zip. Once they pip the vascular system between the egg and chick has to shut down and the veins recede. This can take a long time. Interfering before this can cause bleed out resulting in death or weak chicks. Assisting can be very beneficial and yield very healthy strong chicks, but timing has to be correct and the reason for the assist will also be a big factor on survival.