What is a reasonable amount of time from when a budgerigar chick begins to hatch to the time it fully breaks out of the shell?
Our budgerigar (parakeet) chick began hatching at 2pm; it is now 5pm and the chick is still in the egg. It has managed to break enough of the shell that I can see it moving and hear it chirping quite strongly, but it can't seem to do any more than that. The mother isn't helping at all and I'm afraid to touch the egg myself because I made that mistake with a different clutch and the mother ended up destroying them all. Should I be worrying right now? If not, when should I begin to and is there anything I can do, such as using a utensil or something, to help break the shell?
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