To cut or not to cut?

I've been reading in a few different forums this argument of whether it is a safe a practical practice of cutting the eggs open.

I personally would just DIE from impatience, but that's all it is. IMPATIENCE. How are the balls benefiting from us opening them before they hatch on their own?
Does the movement of the other hatchlings spring everyone else into action?
Does the first one to hatch release a hormone spurring on every other hatchling?
I'm just looking to see what everyone does, and why they do it.

I am in the learning stages on this one also. Now that I am getting a feel for the sizes of healthy hatchlings.. based on this, I would slit if I thought that the hatchling was pretty small and might not be stong enough to get out of the egg. I am on day 57 with Ginger's clutch and I see no reason to slit now. Each egg holds a baby, and I can see them through candling. I don't care to know whether or not they are morphs at this stage. I just want them to hatch!
It is personal preference I guess. From the posts I made, people's advice ran the gamut from "I slit at day 51" to "Slitting is bad; let them come ot on their own and if they don't, they probably aren't healthy anyway.) These replies were from another forum (KS.)

If you know what you're doing, it's safe. Past day 55, the embryo is fully developed and able to live on its own. I was pretty nervous the first go around, though.

This season, I slit the eggs as soon as the first baby pips on its own. Within 12 hours the rest of the babies poked their heads out and were out of the egg within another 12 hours.

Maybe cutting the egg gets the baby to start breathing on its own and gets their metabolism running? Here's a pic of my second clutch right after I cut them:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...clutch2012.jpg

I heard someone drowning several babies by not cutting correctly, that would really suck! I'm not against it but I am patient and would rather wait for the natural process to take place. I have so many animals to take care of I just leave them until every last one comes out, unless you get one of those 2-3 day stragglers. Then I take the rest out. I hate to be woken up when I don't need to get up so maybe I just feel for them LOL :D

Just let them pip on their own. Pays off.

If you know what you are doing its not that big of a deal... I cut sometimes becuase im too impaitient lol! Usually on those cluches i cant wait to see whats inside. I would not recommend cutting unless someone shows you how to do it...

Jon

There is no way to drown a baby by cutting it open.Notice in the pics that the baby has fluid around it. There is some fluid but notice the blood veins there are on a clear membrane sack. If you cut the eggs open before the baby is ready to come out and you bust the sack basically the baby soficates (spl) to death cause it is not ready to start breathing on it own. So basically if the sack is cut open the baby is not ready to breath and it dies.

After having had a positive experience with slitting, I think that I will keep doing it. It takes a steady hand and like Thomas said, you cannot cut that sac. I like slitting because I have heard of babies that were on the small side, dying because they were stuck in the egg; they were fully formed but could not pip through. I think that for me personally, this outweighs the possibility of killing them by slitting. It is really hard to describe how to slit if you are not here watching, so I would leave that to someone else. I would no slit before day 60 with eggs being incubated at 88 degrees.

I've cut every single egg I've ever produced since I started in 1999.

Corey

The last few years I've cut every egg on day 55-without a single loss. I definitely DID get an occasional loss before then, of a baby that was for some reason not able to slit on its own, or made an initial slit, them withdrew and drowned!

There is no harm, and occasional great benefit, in proper and TIMELY cutting-but don't do it just out of impatience!