Question about interfering

[saeris]

Hi all! I've owned chickens for a few years now, but decided to try hatching my own eggs for the first time this spring. So far, so good! We started getting pips yesterday and last night had the first 2 hatch. By now, we have 7 successfully hatched and more pips coming!

However, I do have a question about interfering. I know the general idea is DO NOT interfere, and I have not. But I did decide to remove the dry fluffy chicks this afternoon, as I noticed the incubator was cooling off and struggling a bit more with humidity. This was likely because we had an extreme weather change, but because of that I needed to open to add hot water and rehydrate my sponges to get things to stabilize, so I opted to remove fluffy chicks and broken shells while I did that.

As I was removing shells, I found one stuck to an already pipped egg, covering the pip hole. I removed it and gently placed the egg back down. I can still see movement, but I also think the pip hole dried up a bit while being covered and am now wondering if at some point I should "help" widen the hole a bit since it was altered by the broken shell or if I just hope for the best?

Thanks everyone!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You can enlarge the pip hole as long as there's no blood. It was good you removed the extra egg shell.

 

[saeris]

Thank you! I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't do any harm by enlarging it a bit to give it a little boost. I wouldn't have worried except for the fact that other shell interfered and dried it up a bit.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you! I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't do any harm by enlarging it a bit to give it a little boost. I wouldn't have worried except for the fact that other shell interfered and dried it up a bit.

I've assisted many times. If you see any blood just stop as the chick isn't done absorbing the yolk. Sometimes they pip, and take another day to emerge, and sometimes they need help.