Day 24 incubation. Advice please! Air hole?

[Lylybell000]

Hoping to get some advice as I’m extremely new to incubating (it’s my first time) and I’m hoping to hatch my first chick baby soon! This little baby in here I named Milagro has been incubating since midnight on 12/29 and is still wiggling around in its shell whenever I play chicken and chick sounds. I decided to candle it this morning after turning on the shower to create humidity and warm so I don’t risk shrink wrapping it. Its beak looks close to the air sac but it’s not quite there yet and it’s now on day 24 of incubation. I know it’s alive and kicking so I’m happy and hopefully about that, but not sure if I should just sit back and let it do its thing, or offer a tiny bit of assistance by poking a safety hold in the shell of the air sac area. Would that be harmful if it hasn’t internally pipped yet? Please help! I really want this baby to make it. It’s an egg from my rooster who passed away so I’m hoping to carry of his legacy with this little one. Thanks for your help!

 

[DemeterAD9]

That egg certainly looks ready to hatch and by day 24 I'd be worried. Late hatches could be due to the incubator temp being a tad low, in which case it's not a huge problem for it to hatch late but if it's not a temperature issue then there could be something going on. It could be malpositioned and if it's upside down it may be unable to pip the egg shell. Or it could be deformed and not meant to survive. Some people choose to let nature do the selecting and if a chick can't hatch by itself then so be it. Assuming the chick in not deformed, I prefer to give them a chance when I can.

Have you heard it chirping at all? If you can hear it that means it has internally pipped. If it's been internally pipped for a day and made no more progress then I personally would start chipping away at the air cell end to see if it's stuck in the membrane.

I've had 2 chicks get stuck inside after internally pipping. I kept waiting and waiting then one egg went silent. That one died but I managed to hatch the other one myself and she's a laying hen now.

Give this a read if you decide to help it hatch
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

 

[Lylybell000]

That egg certainly looks ready to hatch and by day 24 I'd be worried. Late hatches could be due to the incubator temp being a tad low, in which case it's not a huge problem for it to hatch late but if it's not a temperature issue then there could be something going on. It could be malpositioned and if it's upside down it may be unable to pip the egg shell. Or it could be deformed and not meant to survive. Some people choose to let nature do the selecting and if a chick can't hatch by itself then so be it. Assuming the chick in not deformed, I prefer to give them a chance when I can.

Have you heard it chirping at all? If you can hear it that means it has internally pipped. If it's been internally pipped for a day and made no more progress then I personally would start chipping away at the air cell end to see if it's stuck in the membrane.

I've had 2 chicks get stuck inside after internally pipping. I kept waiting and waiting then one egg went silent. That one died but I managed to hatch the other one myself and she's a laying hen now.

Give this a read if you decide to help it hatch
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

This has been tremendously helpful advise!! Just finished reading the article and I feel much more confident now about possible assisting. When I get home from work I will lay the egg upright and candle again for internal pipping then go from there. I didn't realize there was a certain position the eggs had to be in for easier hatching. I haven't heard any chirping yet but it definitely likes to wiggle around whenever I play mama hen and baby chick chirping sounds on YouTube lol. I should add that the egg is a silkie/buff Orpington mix and I read that Silkies can take a bit longer to hatch than other breeds, though I still think 24 days may be a bit too long but I want to try my best to save my little chick if at all possible. Thanks sooo much!!

 

[DemeterAD9]

I hope the baby pips soon, keep us updated!

 

[Lylybell000]

Hi again! So here’s where I’m at now: I just got home from work and decided to open up the air sac to see what was going on inside after having read the article very carefully and canceling it first to check progress. I was super careful & did not poke through any blood vessels, then I coated the membrane with coconut oil to keep it moist (the membrane looked dry) & sat him upright and put it back into the incubator. What I observed it the baby bird was visibly wanting to chirp inside, opening and closing its beak, and its head was sorta twisted with its beak right at the base of the air sac indicating it is extremely close to internal pipping. The problem is that there are still visible blood vessels around the membrane so I know it needs a bit longer before it can pip without harm and if I need to assist any further. At this point what would you recommend I do? I’m guessing I need to keep a very close eye on it now that the membrane is exposed & check progress every couple hours? It’s definitely still alive & looks very close to hatching!

 

[Lylybell000]

I hope the baby pips soon, keep us updated!

Just shared an update!

 

[DemeterAD9]

After getting a closer look at the photos on my laptop instead of my phone, it looks like the air cell is a tad smaller than I would expect to see. I originally thought the lighter area was all air cell but it looks like the air cell is really a small area near the light source. What was the humidity and temp during incubation? Typically when the chick is near hatching you want to see about 1/3 of the egg being air cell.

The mouth movements you are seeing are probably the "chewing" that is often talked about when a chick is still absorbing the yolk. Typically the blood vessels will recede and hardly be noticeable when the chick pips. So going off the chewing and veins the little guy isn't quite ready yet.

For now keep the humidity up (65-75%) and make sure the membrane doesn't dry out. Try not to take it out of the incubator, from here on out I think the chick will at least have to internally pip and try hatching on it's own before you assist any further.

 

[Lylybell000]

After getting a closer look at the photos on my laptop instead of my phone, it looks like the air cell is a tad smaller than I would expect to see. I originally thought the lighter area was all air cell but it looks like the air cell is really a small area near the light source. What was the humidity and temp during incubation? Typically when the chick is near hatching you want to see about 1/3 of the egg being air cell.

The mouth movements you are seeing are probably the "chewing" that is often talked about when a chick is still absorbing the yolk. Typically the blood vessels will recede and hardly be noticeable when the chick pips. So going off the chewing and veins the little guy isn't quite ready yet.

For now keep the humidity up (65-75%) and make sure the membrane doesn't dry out. Try not to take it out of the incubator, from here on out I think the chick will at least have to internally pip and try hatching on it's own before you assist any further.

I did my best to keep the humidity around 50-55 before lockdown, but there were a few times while I was away at work then return to find it either too high or too low so I’d immediately do what I could to stabilize it. For the heat I kept it around 97.5 rather than 99.5 as I saw a video and read that it was okay to lower it a bit. But now I just realized that the temperature that displays on the incubator doesn’t match the temp on the separate hygrometer which shows it was a few degrees lower than the incubator reading. Ugh!! That must be why this issue happened and why the air sac is so much smaller than it should be. The poor thing probably wasn’t growing under the ideal conditions like I thought it was!!! Another mistake & lesson to learn I will never repeat again!

I have now raised the temperature on the incubator a bit higher, the humidity has been stable between 65-75 for the past couple days, I’ve been making sure if it, but now that the membrane is exposed I’m keeping it closer to 75. I quickly checked the membrane and it was still moist but drying a tiny bit around the edges so I added another little drop of coconut oil just around the edges. I’m going to let the little guy rest now and check it again around midnight before I go to bed. Then again in the very very early morning, or maybe even before then. & I will likely work only half a day tomorrow to keep an eye on him but will not remove him from the incubator. I will also not do anything else further to assist until the veins are gone and he has externally pipped! Thanks for your help guiding me through this!!!!

 

[Slothinc]

I hope this little one can pull through!! For future hatches, I would not recommend incubating any lower than 99.5. Any lower than that is not going to be good for the chick, and probably will have a poor result. I haven’t ever heard of incubating at 97.5 before, but that really is not a good temperature for chicken eggs. I would recommend keeping it closer to 100 or 100.5 (the actual temperature, not just the reading on the incubator, those are often wrong.) I have had worse hatches when incubating at lower temperatures (on accident, incubator thermometer was off), than I have with slightly higher temps.

I think you are doing all that you can to help this little baby at this point! All my suggestions above were for future batches if you decide to incubate again. I hope this little one can somehow survive!!

 

[DemeterAD9]

Yes, low temp is likely to blame here. I shoot for 100F in my cheap 45$ incubator. The built it readings for temp and humidity are off so I keep a reliable glass thermometer and cheap hygrometer in there.

Upping the temp should hopefully help the little one but the damage may already be done. I don’t know what a lower incubation temp does to developing chicks, possibly more than just slow development. Hoping for the best!