Slow developing chicks?

[ermintrude]

Hello everybody, we are in need of help!
It is day 22 and still no sign of chicks. No peeping, no cracks, nothing! In my not-so-infinite wisdom I though I would open one of the eggs to see what had gone wrong like drowning etc. To my surprise there was a live chick inside, still with a large yoke attached to it and not looking like a chick ready to hatch. It was fully form with feathers, but had a wild baby bird look to it. I had a horrible feeling I had mis-calculated the dates, but double checked them to be sure.
The eggs are in a suro 20 fully automated temp humidity etc.. We had 100% hatch rate last year so I don't think it is the incubator.
I have put the chick back in the incubator but don't think it will survive without its shell, though the inner membrane is intact. I feel really bad for opening the egg, but I have never had anything hatch past 22 days that hadn't already started to break out.

Should I give the chicks a couple more days and see if they hatch? Also is there anything I can do for the chick I mistook for dead?

Many thanks

 

[foxy]

I would candle the eggs to see if there is any movement, otherwise give them a couple of days. It does sound like the chick is not quite ready. An incubator running slightly cool can cause delayed hatching. Did you count the setting of the eggs as day "0"?

 

[ermintrude]

Yes, I remembered to count the first day as zero. I will candle them tonight and look for movement. Unfortunately the chick out of the shell didn't survive.
Thanks

 

[chrismahon]

Your incubator is running very cold Ermintrude. If you read the Suro small print they only work at an ambient temperature of 20 degrees -where do you get that then? The instruments are not reading the temperature of the eggs, just the air around the heaters -pretty useless really. We have one and can't rely on it. Have only had late hatches with our Suro and have gone back to a well insulated Italian semi-auto. Could enclose the incubator in a cardboard box, as the slightest draught affects the hatch in a Suro.