Oh my! So glad to hear your surgery went well and that you are doing okay now! ❤
And congrats on the Splash babies, though sorry about your cuckoo hatch. It's rough losing them...not only the developing chicks, but all the time and money. Fingers crossed your cuckoo is a cockerel and that all...
I've found that with my heritage breed Narragansetts, the time frame to go through each pip/zip/hatch stage is the same as my large fowl heritage chickens (Orpingtons, Brahma, RIR, etc). The only thing that takes longer is the initial incubation period.
Introducing Splat! Yesterday the egg had stalled during zipping so last night I removed the egg from the incubator and set it on a towel on the counter top and worked on helping the poult stuck inside to progress. Using a wet q-tip, I soften and remove the hard, crusty membrane that stuck fast...