Dry Vs. Wet Incubation, Higher Hatch Rate & NO Spraddle Leg! 

Oh, thank you for sharing your tips! I'd like to try that next time.

Thank you 😊

Thanks for your question! Sorry for the super long answer but whether or not you help a chick out of their eggs is really a "it depends" kind of situation... There's lots of varying opinions about whether it's the best practice to help a chick who appears 'stuck' in an egg during a prolonged hatch and the answers I offer here are just what I've done in the past several years when I encountered this issue. I'm not a vet. I also want to caution readers that hatching chicks can sometimes lead to emotionally upsetting situations, and this may be one of them. But first, to answer your question of how long a chick can take to hatch after pipping, I've had some chicks make a pip and then make no progress- no zipping or further pips- for a full 24 hours. I've had this happen on day 19-22 from various breeds and mixes of chicks, and it just seems like part of a normal hatch. There have been times when I assumed the little chick that made a pip and then rested for a full 24 hours didn't make it, but then to my surprise, it would pop into action and go through the zipping process nearly before my eyes. But, unfortunately, I've also had chicks who made that first pip and then failed to finish hatching. It's normal for both situations to occur. So, when do I help a chick who appears stuck? I look at other factors before doing anything. First I'd ensure that the humidity was high enough for that chick to hatch smoothly and the incubator is functioning normally. If several other chicks are pipping and zipping or have already hatched successfully and the incubator is chock full of eggs and chicks at various stages of hatching, I WILL NOT help 1 chick that appears stuck, since I wouldn't risk cracking open that incubator lid and compromising all those other hatchlings in an effort to reach in and take out the unhatched chick. But, of course, that advice is based on my knowledge of my Farm Innovator Pro Series incubator and the fact that I usually hatch clutches of 20 or more eggs at a time. This incubator model is awesome, but if the hatch phase is interrupted by the lid lifting, the humidity and temp just blast out in a second and then it will take a minute or two to come back up. The shock of cold, dry air on the chicks already in the incubator could be fatal for many of them (and not instantly, either). If some have pipped then all that cold dry air rushes into their open shell and it can 'saran wrap' or make the membrane shrink and stiffen up all around them. I won't compromise several other chicks to save just one, since there may have been an unknown medical or genetic reason why that chick struggles to hatch and I'd compromise the good health of several other chicks to save a sick one. And that segues into the other side of my answer, of when I DO help a struggling chick, because I definitely have helped many chicks hatch over the years, also. However, I'm more likely not to help a chick than to choose to help it, and I'll explain why afterward. I like to keep my incubator sealed until day 23 or 24, until the vast majority of chicks have hatched and are looking fluffy and are getting pecky for their first meal. Then at the time I go to transfer the hatchlings from the incubator into the brooder, while I'm already opening the incubator, I'll examine all the remaining eggs. If an egg is not pipped I'll return it to the incubator. If the egg is pipped then I'll look for signs of strength and life. Is the chick peeping with their beak lifted towards the hole? Is it moving slightly as it breathes strongly and it seems to be a little slimy and moist looking? If all those are true then it goes back into the incubator in hopes it will complete the process on its own. If the chick looks limp inside, or is barely moving when you gently poke it, I'll also put it back into the incubator but I don't expect a miracle, either. But, don't worry, I'm getting to your answer, because *I do* help some hatch. If a chick has pipped, has lots of energy and is peeping strongly, and started unzipping AND it looks like the membrane has dried out and is stuck against the chick's body, then I'll take a warm, wet cloth and hold it against the area that looks dried. Do this with the chick kept warm against your body or inside your hands. Try not to let it catch a chill as you let the membrane soften back up again with a quick sponge-soak. Also avoid getting water into the shell. The cloth should just be damp enough that it saturates the outside of the shell but it shouldn't drip. Take some time here and see if the chick can slide free of the membrane on its own as it softens up. If so, return it to the incubator to finish. If a chick looks completely 'saran wrapped' inside and you can see that it is twisted incompletely or appears that it's the membrane preventing it from making the turning motion on the inside of the shell, I'll very carefully chip away bits of shell along the chick's zipped line, in the direction it was already going. I don't penetrate the membrane, but rather just pre-crack the shell so that the chick can cut through the membrane itself as it turns and zips in the shell. This can take several hours. You may see a tad of blood, and if you do, stop immediately. That means that you've broken blood vessels in the membrane that hadn't fully absorbed into the chick yet. Unfortunately, even if you get that chick out of the egg it's likely to develop spraggle leg, or be half-sized and weak from not finishing absorption. I've had two chicks who started life like that- both hens- who both became egg-bound with their first egg at 5 month old, and died. Sorry for the sad news. That's why I won't help a chick hatch that appears too weak to finish the process basically on its own. If the shell is so dried out that it just falls away as you chip at it and the membrane underneath looks like paper, this is a good sign that the chick will live after you've helped it hatch. It's an indication that it just got dried out too much during the final hatching process and needs its down feathers to get unstuck from the membrane to finish up on its own. Just as describe above, I'll very gently chip away along the zip line in the direction the chick was going. When I reach a point where it feels like the chick is right underneath that area of shell where my thumbnail is, I'll apply the warm cloth again to moisten the shell and membrane before returning it to the incubator for a few minutes. I also keep the incubator humidity very high, about 75%. I'll check up on it and continue to help as needed with the goal of the chick doing the majority of the hatch on its own. If the chick gets out of the egg and part of the egg is still attached to it somewhere, I leave it on. You can always take off dried shell a day or so later after the chick has fully absorbed any liquids that still may be clinging to the membrane. I want to end this terribly long response with a polite disclaimer. It's likely that any chicks you need to help hatch (providing all your other eggs seem to be hatching normally) are compromised in some way, and as such, they aren't going to be your healthiest chickens of the flock. I'm not a vet, but just a person who loves chickens. Is it humane to help a compromised chick hatch, just to later live an unhealthy life and potentially contribute genes to future flocks that perpetuate hatching issues? Or is it more humane to let nature take its course right from the hatch? There's so much grey area when it comes to what is actually most humane and best practice in these tricky situations. I wish you the best of luck in your hatching adventures and hope you have only the healthiest, happiest chooks this life has to offer 🥰

@@SayWhyChickenThigh Wow. That is an even better response then I needed. I'm not complaining but rather just amazed by all the information I got from this one comment. I raise fighting roosters but I recently just started using an artificial incubator to hatch them so I didn't know what to do when the 21 days passed and a chick didn't hatch. You not only answered one of my questions but you answered multiple questions that I didn't even know I needed answered. I didn't know that helping a chick hatch could affect future generations of chicks. That is something I don't want since I don't want one of my roosters or hens to be weak. Especially since I mentioned that I raise fighting roosters and a weak one is never a good thing. Incase you're wondering, no I don't make my roosters fight, I just simply love how beautiful, strong and fearless they are. I think I rather just let nature decide whether the chick hatches or not for this reason. Thank you very much for this amazing response! I love chickens too and I'm glad to have learned more about their hatching process from you.

Kudos to building your own incubator! Sounds like you have a plan to help increase the hatch rate next time now that you have a new controller. In my experience, when the chicks have a hard time making it out due to a leathery membrane, it is due to low humidity. Placing a wet, clean sponge in your incubator on day 20 can help boost your humidity right at the critical time of the first pip. Then the air rushing into the shell will be moist and hopefully will help the membrane from getting stiff and leathery. If you have a hygrometer, maintain it between 65%-80% for the duration of the hatch. Even if you're doing the dry method incubation for days 0-18 the humidity will still need to be boosted for hatching. If you're able to, adjust the humidity without opening the lid or causing drafts of cold air. My incubator uses Fahrenheit temp increments of half a degree. Days 0-18 are kept between 99.5*F - 100.5*F, or 37.5*C - 38*C. Hatch days are kept at 98*F, or 36.5*C. I hope you have 4 or more cheeping chicks! Thanks for checking out the video!

The eggs set in this video were unwashed.

My Olive Egger always has babies who hatch on day 18/19. I can't explain this phenomenon either since it seems that sometimes only a few eggs hatch very early and some very late (day 23). It's quite the range :-) Good luck with your new flock 😀

Too high temps can cause early hatching. If you see a lot of chicks with unabsorbed yolks, that’s a good sign that the temps were too high.

Haha!

Thanks for checking out the video! I can only speak for my personal results shown in this video. No spraggle leg is always something to celebrate. I am going to be using the dry hatch method from now on! It was less fussy than wet hatching, too.

Thanks for checking out the video 🙂

I think you mean SPLAY leg.