# Chick Alive but Didn't Hatch - Day 23??



## Olivia H (Oct 20, 2017)

Hatched our first set of chicks this week. Day 21 was on Tuesday. Most pipped on Tuesday night. All hatched on Wednesday night, except the last chick who hatched on Thursday morning. Two eggs were left. Neither had pipped but I knew one of them was alive as of day 17. Anyways, we waited until Thursday night which would have been day 23. We decided to take the leftover, unhatched eggs out and examine. One of them had been dead for a while, but the other one, we gently opened part of it, and it was still moving inside. We tried to carefully take him out but it was just barely moving and started bleeding when it came out and then it just slowly passed away. UGH I felt sooo bad, I was pretty positive it was dead, but if it was going to hatch, shouldn't it have already pipped? I mean, that was day 23. It was much smaller than the other alive ones that hatched, but it just didn't look right. I feel so bad and feel like it was my fault. Should I have let it stay in longer? Or was there already a reason that it wasn't pecking out? Maybe something had already happened to it and it was too weak or something? Was there a possibility that it had died earlier but it just twitched or something when we took it out? I'm just looking for some reassurance here cause I'm beating myself up right now about it! Thanks!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

If you got bleeding then it was alive. 

Without being there it's hard to say why it was so slow. Usually late development compared to the others means it was in a cooler spot in the incubator.

Or something was indeed wrong with it and even if it did hatch would not have survived. 

We all face these situations if we have these guys and it will always remain sad and stressful when it happens.


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## Olivia H (Oct 20, 2017)

How disappointing. But I really appreciate your help. Is there a possibility that it was bleeding inside the egg? Cause even when the chicken was out, there was blood inside the egg. When I candled it before it was open, it had a very large and prominent air sac. Just curious, once again, thank you!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The entire inside of the egg shell is lined with veins, that is the first sign we have that peeps are developing. If the shell was removed before development has advanced far enough those veins are still present, hence the bleeding you saw.

What I recommend when a peep is struggling to get out is to hold off for as long as possible. Peep will let their humans know if they are stressed by screaming. Then it's OK to open a test hole right near where the beak is. If there is bleeding to stop and put peep back for a few hours to see if it can make progress on it's own.


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## Jocelbug (10 mo ago)

How do I know if a chick is screaming inside the egg? I had four live chicks that I knew of in the incubator from candling at day 17. but on day 21 only three hatched out, and they came out right away. We’re on the start of day 23 and I went to throw away the other eggs in the incubator that didn’t hatch and as I picked up one of them and I heard a chick yelling inside the egg but it wasn’t very loud it was very muffled. I put it closer to my ear and the chick did sound stressed but I mean that could’ve been because I picked it up right? I know you’re not supposed to help a chick hatch. But I’m afraid it is stuck and don’t want it to die trapped in the egg. It has not pipped at all.





robin416 said:


> The entire inside of the egg shell is lined with veins, that is the first sign we have that peeps are developing. If the shell was removed before development has advanced far enough those veins are still present, hence the bleeding you saw.
> 
> What I recommend when a peep is struggling to get out is to hold off for as long as possible. Peep will let their humans know if they are stressed by screaming. Then it's OK to open a test hole right near where the beak is. If there is bleeding to stop and put peep back for a few hours to see if it can make progress on it's own.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You can most certainly can help it. But, yours is odd. No pip hole and the peep is alive. There could be a reason for that so be prepared.

Did this egg go in at the same time? Was it on the outer edges of the incubator?


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