[bumpkins]

Hello Everyone - again...
I was very unsure whether any of the eggs that I had incubated would ever hatch as I had to dispose of so many early on as the embryos had died.  However, one of the remaining few has been pipping since early this morning (day 20) and although it has made a little bit of progress, it certainly isn't much.....does it usually take this long? 
I would really hate the idea of having to 'help' as I'm such a novice that I wouldn't have a clue what I was doing!  Anyway, I'm being optimistic and have the brooder all ready!  Do I just hang it out?  I've read so much conflicting advice.
Thank you all

[FiB]

By pipping do you mean noise? If so, that's fine they do that a day or two before hatch, in my limited experience.... If you mean the egg has actually been pipped (an air hole made )then a big ti of rest is normal....  Should be within 24 hrs of that?  Mine have been up to 5 days after due date nod first hatch!enjoy

[bumpkins]

Hi again
Yes -I mean that the egg now has a little air hole - I can see the tiny beak bobbing about and cheeping!!!

[HesterF]

They can vary enormously but if it's made no progress by tomorrow, I'd be tempted to help. They can find it hard to zip for whatever reason although the only times I've had to help chicks is when I've been faffing around with the incubator to get earlier chicks out and the humidity changes have stopped the later hatches. If you do decide to help, just start picking off the shell a tiny bit around the hole he's already made. Once you've picked off a bit, leave it a couple of hours before picking off some more. If there's blood when you pull off the membrane, leave it longer.

[Cluckinggoodpoultry]

You can help it out but it could be due to the humidity in the incubator, every time you open up the incubator it is decreasing the humidity which in effect keeps the egg sac around the chick moist, this can cause a problem if it dries out as it sticks to the chick making it hard for it to free itself from the egg. There is no set time for them to hatch particularly as I have seen a batch of eggs where ones have hatched immediately and then others hatch sometimes 2 days later. Helping them out is sometimes detrimental and has to be done very carefully and you need to watch out where the chick is attached to the egg near its stomach area (a bit like the umbilical cord on a baby) this must be left to dry off and detach itself naturally as it can cause bleeding and various other problems if pulled off. It needs to be done very gently if you are helping it and as Hester says a bit at a time. I tend to leave things to nature as much as possible, and only help if it is well overdue and has been pipping for much too long and not making any progress. Good luck you'll be fine

[AndynJ]

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