absorbed yolk sack!!!!! HELP!!!!!

we recentley incubated 13 eggs. all had an unabsorbed yolk sack. it happened before but wen we removed them from the egg they died indtantley! now all ours have died except for a little buff orpington chick we named hope! she is in her egg but we made a hole in it wen she failed 2 hatch. shes quite small and not the size she shoul. she looks premature! what do i do? ill do absolutely anything to save little hope! please help! im loosing the head! im begging if anyone knows how to save her then tell me ill do it! im very upset about this! it has killed 27 chicks!

I'm sorry I can't help much w/ the one that is alive, but there was a lady on another thread that wrapped the chick in a wet paper towel and set it in a cut off styrofoam cup, not sure how that ended, but if it does come out of the shell that might be a good choice.

Just curious, why are you removing them from their shell? It can take days for them to go from pip to hatch, just because they don't progress quickly doesn't mean they won't hatch. From everything I have read they don't usually absorb the yolk sac till after they have pipped. Sounds like maybe you are helping too early?

no , usually they absorb the yolk sac on day 19! they then take their position and grow just that tiny bit more. u are always advised to leave them for an extra day , but if there is still no pipping or even cheeping from the egg u shud dispose of it. i think that disposing of it isnt right so i make a tiny hole in the egg wg=here the beak should sit. ive done thid many times before and it has saved many weak chicks! thankyou for your help , but they died! we left 4 in the eggs and after a week we opened them and they were dead too! it really is driving me too the brink! im puting more on 2moro ill let u know how i get on with this lot!

Okay, apparently you think you know everything there is to know about hatching so why are you asking for help?

The days don't mean anything unless you have an ideal incubation. The best gauge for when things are happening are pip and zip. Don't toss eggs till they hit day 25, good luck.

Oceanseve said:

Just curious, why are you removing them from their shell? It can take days for them to go from pip to hatch, just because they don't progress quickly doesn't mean they won't hatch. From everything I have read they don't usually absorb the yolk sac till after they have pipped. Sounds like maybe you are helping too early?

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I totally agree with you. I think you are helping way to early. NEVER EVER HELP unless its day 25 and they are on the brink of dying. Mother Nature hates human help.

I'm really confused as to what you are doing with the eggs. From your first post it seems as though you are opening up the eggs and taking them out on day 19 because you've read they absorb their yolk by day 19. In my experience, they have not absorbed their yolk by then. They begin to absorb it on day 19 because usually they begin to breathe on day 19, and sometimes won't do so until day 20. Then they take time to externally pip, and then a while after that, will pip all around the circumference of the egg and push themselves out. You are not supposed to help them on day 19, if that's what you are doing.

You should expect for them to hatch on day 21. It is also not routine to remove chicks from their shells. It's something that is done when they have absorbed the yolk but for whatever reason, can't get out, and under normal incubation temperatures this could not be any earlier than hatch day (day 21). If they haven't absorbed their yolk sacs, bottom line is that it is far too early to even think of assisting.

My advice would be to put your eggs into lockdown with adequate humidity, and let them do their thing. Don't even touch them. I assist when necessary but the majority of eggs should always get out on their own. At this point, considering your losses, you'd be better off leaving them alone entirely even if a few weak ones don't get out.

ok so i had one i took out of the egg and she lived! i am taking them out wen they have gone past day 21! day 22-23 . we had 3 we left! we didnt touch them as u all said but after 30 DAYS , nothing at all happened so we then cracked them and dey all died! at least we saved one by taking it from the egg! i understand were you are all coming from but i did save 1 , and have saved so many this way im rather proud! kinda wish i took the others out and dey wud hav lived 2 but sure 1 is enough! i will keep taking them out of the eggs as they seem 2 live better if they are removed after failure to hatch! im currently incubating ducks! i wont be removing them as i know far more can go wrong removing ducklings compared to chicks! so thanks anyway! and i dont completely remove them i simply tap a hole (a tiny one) and den after further failure to respond , remove them! and it is a bacteria that was doing it! got it all fixed up now all is well! and oceanseve i dont think i know everything about incubating , i just stick by what i know and have experianced! of course i wud not even touch the eggs on day 19!!!!! ud have to be stupid to do that!!

Don't "help" a chicken hatch out of it's egg. It's like helping a moth out of it's cocoon. If the moth doesn't squeeze out of the cocoon on it's own, the fluids aren't forced out into the wings, the wings will not be developed and the moth will never fly. The same goes for butterflies. The same goes for chicks. Let nature take it's course. If you aren't sure whether or not the chicks are still alive, get a stethoscope and listen to the egg. But let the eggs develop on their own. If the chicks don't survive, incubate more.

I agree. Nature makes the chick fight its way out of the shell for a reason. The balancing act that goes on within the egg has to be absolutely right for it to be ready to deal with the world. Gravity is gradually introduced to the chick as the eggs support is withdrawn.

Disagree about assisting hatching as I have assisted when they are in trouble and have strong healthy chicks that were stuck in the wrong position. But I do agree about assisting hatching to soon. I have only had one chick attempt to hatch with an unabsorbed yolk, you are human we make mistakes and one thing off in your incubation setup can delay hatching. My first ever hatch was quail, due day 18, day 23 I had some quail hatch as my thermostat was way off, so ignòre the day and look at the chicks. If they look premature and havent absorbed the yolk then they are too early, mushy chick which you are talking about is chicks that hatch alert with unabsorbed yolks because of bacterial infections, completely different thing altogether. The chicks are normal apart from either having their yolk still out, or having very swollen bellies
. You are assisting too early and the fact this happened before tells me that your setup is slightly wrong, maybe your thermometer says 37 but it is actually 36 for example. Mushy chick happens because the incubator and chick brooder arenf sterile, they are dirty and the bacteria infects the chicks yolk stopping it absorbing properly. If that was the case you would lose eggs with blood rings as the bacteria would get into the egg and kill the emybro. If you must assist read sally sunshines guide to assisting hatching. I havent lost a chick I spotted had pipped since (occaisonally I lose one if it pips and I cant see it and it gets stuck, then I blame myself.) Reading it.