Chick pipped with beak out, but not zipping.

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Andora

Andora

Songster
11 Years
Aug 26, 2008
1,741
51
171
Lexington, Kentucky
This chick has been sitting there with its beak out for about two hours now, and it shows no signs of zipping. It just keeps poking its beak through the hole and peeping. It's the first chick to hatch out of my 14 eggs. 4 including this one are pipped, the rest...nothing yet.

What should I do?? If I help it, that means opening the bator. The humidity is up to 90%. I don't want it to drop and then mess up the rest of the hatch.
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Wynette

Wynette

Crowing
Premium Feather Member
12 Years
Sep 25, 2007
25,574
267
421
Michigan
90 is WAY too high....you really need to get it down to 70. Do you have vents you can open? Not to scare you, but chicks can literally drown during pipping if the humidity is too high.

It can take upwards of 24 hrs. for them to zip and hatch...My last hatch, I had one that took 28 hours, and made it out just fine. It's really best not to help. GOOD LUCK!
 
eschwaderer

eschwaderer

Songster
10 Years
Feb 28, 2009
122
6
121
Ohio
Worry after 24-36 hrs. There is ALWAYS a reason when one is slow to hatch or doesn't fully. Messing around with the hatching, more often than not, does more harm than good.

90% is too high.
 
Andora

Andora

Songster
11 Years
Aug 26, 2008
1,741
51
171
Lexington, Kentucky
Will it mess up the hatch if I just reach in and take out the sponge? That will cause the humidity to drop a lot. It's so high because it's reallllly humid here today.
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Last edited:
Wynette

Wynette

Crowing
Premium Feather Member
12 Years
Sep 25, 2007
25,574
267
421
Michigan
Are your vent holes open? If your only option is to remove the sponge, I think since it's so high, you ought to do so - quickly. It's really not the best to open the bator during a hatch, but I think in THIS case, you probably should.
 
Andora

Andora

Songster
11 Years
Aug 26, 2008
1,741
51
171
Lexington, Kentucky
The vents are open. I can always get my DH to drill a few more holes in it really quick instead.
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I'll just go take out the sponge...the carton also got wet, which I think is another part of the problem since it increased the wet surface area.

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LoupGarou

LoupGarou

Songster
11 Years
Oct 15, 2008
289
0
131
Most of the time, from what I understand, hatches get messed up because you drop the humidity if you open the incubator. You *want* to drop the humidity, so it probably shouldn't cause a problem.

Can you turn on air conditioning? That should dry out the air outside the incubator--I know that I have to turn my a/c off when I get ready to hatch eggs because my a/c leaves me with about 25% humidity in my house.
 
Andora

Andora

Songster
11 Years
Aug 26, 2008
1,741
51
171
Lexington, Kentucky
The AC is on! I took out the sponge and the wet piece of carton (no eggs were in, I had laid them out for the hatch.) The humidity dropped slowly and now it's down to 78%. The pipped egg still has a little beak poking out and peeping. I keep telling it to zip, but it's not listening!

I'm so nervous...I would be happy if just two of them hatched out...
 
Andora

Andora

Songster
11 Years
Aug 26, 2008
1,741
51
171
Lexington, Kentucky
As a second thought...what happens when broodies live in a humid climate or hatch chicks in rainy hot weather? It's bound to be humid under the hen too, right?
 

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