Would anyone explain to me what a safety hole is? When to do/or not do it?

[vonmatter]

Hey guys,

I am in the middle of a complicated hatch… Trying everything and checking everything… Chicks were supposed to be my daughter's Christmas present

So I came across some posts talking about a safety hole, something to avoid the chicks to suffocate to n the egg? I would really appreciate it if anyone could explain a little bit more about it to me Thanks a lot.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Safety holes are for when you have a chick that is internally pipped for a while but not externally pipped. They can work wonders for chicks struggling to break through the shell. You'd want to be checking up on the eggs and looking for peeping but no cracks in the shells yet. You can also look for the beak shadow through the shell if the chick is the quiet type. No point in creating a safety hole until the chick is ready to pip. It shouldn't hurt to do a safety hole for any straggler eggs if the rest of the clutch is already making progress too, assuming they were all started at the same time.

I do a safety hole only for very special eggs, particularly ones that are from a dark layer (dark olive or dark brown) as they seem to have a harder time pipping IME. Take a sharp pointed screw and gently but firmly twist it back and forth at the top of the air cell, being careful of the chick's head position. Drill a hole through the shell and through the papery membrane but not the membrane covering the chick. This should allow the chick to get some fresh air and hopefully that extra boost to pip and hatch as usual. Just make sure the humidity is kept high so they don't end up drying out too fast.

 

[vonmatter]

Safety holes are for when you have a chick that is internally pipped for a while but not externally pipped. They can work wonders for chicks struggling to break through the shell. You'd want to be checking up on the eggs and looking for peeping but no cracks in the shells yet. You can also look for the beak shadow through the shell if the chick is the quiet type. No point in creating a safety hole until the chick is ready to pip. It shouldn't hurt to do a safety hole for any straggler eggs if the rest of the clutch is already making progress too, assuming they were all started at the same time.

I do a safety hole only for very special eggs, particularly ones that are from a dark layer (dark olive or dark brown) as they seem to have a harder time pipping IME. Take a sharp pointed screw and gently but firmly twist it back and forth at the top of the air cell, being careful of the chick's head position. Drill a hole through the shell and through the papery membrane but not the membrane covering the chick. This should allow the chick to get some fresh air and hopefully that extra boost to pip and hatch as usual. Just make sure the humidity is kept high so they don't end up drying out too fast.

Thank you so much,

I mostly get it, you are just increasing the size of the air cell by opening it to the external air, right?

But should I cover the hole with a tiny piece of a wet paper towel? To try to avoid it from drying out? And how much humidity should it be? 60/70/80?

Eggs are starting to Pip, I’ve waited almost 24h and this one would move the egg back and forward, and no piping. It's already a late batch due to power outages…

I really appreciate your help
Thanks.