Backyard Poultry Forum

I can't see any cracks or the tooth coming out but I'm worried it will run out of air if I leave it. Should I crack it open and set it free? Its a silky chick btw.

No. Let it be. If you do you will most likely kill it. I can offen her chirping in the eggs before they have made a crake.

Shayne

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Double Lace Gold and Blue Laced Barnevelders, Large BLS. Gold. BLG and SL Wyandottes, Pekins in many colours, 3 Rabbit, 2 Horses, a cat, fish, a Llama, a Alpaca, a Kelpie, a Maremma and a patient husband
http://shoalhavenpoultry.com.au/

No you shouldnt.

To actually pip an egg, the chick has to run out of air. It is the spasm process that "fires" the head forward with enough velocity to pip the egg shell.

J

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Some mornings I wake up grumpy but most mornings I let her sleep in.
Just Marans

ok, right, I've sat down now... Should I mist or just let it be?

Walk away and let it be. Come back in a few hours to see if there is a little hole and let nature do its thing.

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Double Lace Gold and Blue Laced Barnevelders, Large BLS. Gold. BLG and SL Wyandottes, Pekins in many colours, 3 Rabbit, 2 Horses, a cat, fish, a Llama, a Alpaca, a Kelpie, a Maremma and a patient husband
http://shoalhavenpoultry.com.au/

Don't touch it, don't fiddle with it, don't open the incubator, do not even look at it it's fine, just leave it alone. Even... even if it is struggling you won't be able to save it, if you don't know what you are doing leave it. if you open the shell a fluffy chic is not going to happily jump out, a wet, curled up chic still attatched to the membrane via blood filled veins with the yolk sac still external will bleed to death and die if you mess with the shell so don't touch it. Sorry to sound harsh but you would be suprised what it takes for some people to understand this. At least now you know.

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MY WEBSITE http://shambhala-birds.webs.com

Go and have a cuppa and a relax. All is fine, and as others have said. Leave it be. I know it's hard but as Nike say "Just do it!"




Ron

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"To the Core"

lol ok message understood! Did just check on it again before I read the last post and it was still chirping. Don't think I'll be able to sleep. This is way more interisting than my own labour!! Now to that cuppa...

I am guessing this is your first time? I didn't mean to sound so harsh but better to get the message through than to have the person make a mistake that will really upset them.

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MY WEBSITE http://shambhala-birds.webs.com

no that's ok, I'm glad you did! I've had a bit of a bad run lately. Lost my fav roo to my dumb bitch (I accidenally left the gate open for 15 mins - gutted). Was the sweetest, most placid roo. These eggs are his legend, so they're special to me. Was a large clutch from several hens. One hatched and the next day the broodies were off the nest. So I took the remaining eggs in the vain hope that they would still hatch (they were cold when I found them). Stuck them in my converted medical incubator, with water tray underneath for humidity, etc, etc. Opened it this am to find two perfect little chicks had hatched and found their way to the water and drowned. No I hear chirping and in good faith I will let nature do its work. Needless to say the water tray is now chick proof.

We live and learn, and learn, and learn...

Thanks for your advice and you weren't harsh at all!

one more question, would it be a good idea to stick the egg under my hens tonight? I'm guessing it would probably hatch by morning and they would be better at looking after it than me.

If the hens were still broody they would have still been sitting. If you put the eggs under a hen that is not prepared to parent she could attck them and kill them. Hens are not kind to chicks they don't believe should be there. I would finish what they wouldn't and leave them in the incubator.
Cheers julie

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I began to realise how a person's wealth is not measured in money but in the numbers of plants, animals and people that he/she CARES FOR and UNDERSTANDS.
- Michael Reynolds journey vol 1.

i will keep an eye on it....BUT how long do have to wait.....

In a normal temperature stable at 37.7 incubator hatch you set the eggs and they take roughly 12 hours to come up to temp. Then its day 1 and you turn them at least twice a day til day 18 then leave them alone. Day 21 they should hatch. Some will pip day 20 some 21 they can take up to 48hours to get out of the shell. Rule of thumb is to allow another couple of days for late ones but all eggs hatched or not out of incubator by day 25. Work out when the eggs were sat on properly first and work your due day out from that.
In between the pip (little hole) and zip (breaking out) they need to rest and absorb the yolk into their tummies and the blood vessels from the inside membrane to the egg. Fiddling with temp to rush will damage or kill them. Like humans they come when they are ready not when we are.
Hope that helps. And oft times you can hear them talking in their eggs before they hatch. An experienced or good broody talks back to them when she comes out of her trance.

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I began to realise how a person's wealth is not measured in money but in the numbers of plants, animals and people that he/she CARES FOR and UNDERSTANDS.
- Michael Reynolds journey vol 1.

I know how you feel Colours - I had my first hatching last week and I was so excited and wanted to help them out of their egg, but luckily for me, I have a very broody Australorp who happily sat on them. I decided to let nature take it's course, but I was so impatient! Good luck with it all!

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10 chooks! - 1 Isa Brown (Hazel), 3 Australorps, 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte and 5 Light Sussex