Egg in nest is bleeding! Please advise!

Shugercube

Songster
Apr 17, 2022
437
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Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Okay so I went to check on my broody and her chicks (they've been slowly hatching since Saturday). Well Mama was out of the nest and showing her babies the food and water. One of the eggs in there looks like they were pecking it, and there's blood. There was another egg in the nest that I guess was eaten, because I removed the shells of the hatched ones and no more hatched, but there was an empty smashed up shell in the nest and bits of it were stuck to this egg. I think they were trying to eat it? The membrane looked really dry too so I immediately brought it inside and moistened it a bit and put it in the empty incubator, but is there anything else I can or should do? It doesn't seem to be a ton, but there are definitely veins still and it still seems to be slowly oozing out. Chick is still wiggling around and I think it's peeping but not 100% sure which bator the sound is coming from.
 

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Wanted to update, chick is still wiggly and definitely peeping. It looks like it pipped the membrane now. The bleeding has stopped I think, it's no longer a bright red but the darker brownish color of old blood. Hopefully little one does okay. I'm having trouble keeping the humidity up in this bator, I've been syringing water in through the top hole because I'm terrified to open it. We will see 🤞🏻 I feel a little less stressed now that I can see its little beak tip and know it can breathe, but I know it's not necessarily out of the woods yet either. Hopefully little one makes it through the night
 
It's likely your broody was trying to help. I've seen my broody before open up eggs to help chicks hatch.

She probably knew she had to get up for the others and could feel it moving in the shell. Better to try then just abandon it, but then stopped when it started bleeding.

Looks like you're doing what you can already. Good luck, hope it survives.
 
Hello! It’s always so nerve wracking when you can’t tell if the chick is okay or not. If it is making progress I think it should probably be okay. A pip and cheeping are good signs. It may struggle to unzip and get out of the shell because of the unnatural difference. Don’t step in too early though. Remember that nature’s got know-how and only help if it really needs it. Hope it hatches soon and does well after!
 
Well it hatched sometime while I was at work today!

BUT yolk sac is clearly still attached, and there's what looks like a huge splat of diarrhea on the paper towel the egg was laying on. Should I be concerned? What should I do for her? Can I trim the end of the sac off? I know the yolk sac usually absorbs before hatching, and I'm worried letting it hang will get caught/stuck and pull out her intestines. Thoughts? She's all alone so no worries about another chick picking at her, but I've read they can step on themselves and whatnot.
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Hello again! That’s great that she hatched! Do not do anything about the yolk sac. If it hatched on its own it means it was ready to do so and it should be fine. Make sure that no other chicks peck at it though. It could get infected or start bleeding, which would likely end in her dying unfortunately. I had a chick that I ended up having to help hatch, because she was backwards in the egg with her head in the small end. She was fine for a few days, but then died, probably because she was weak (she hatched almost two days late, more than 24 hours after pipping) and on top of that she seemed to have a strange case of splayed leg :( :hit. I think the diarrhea-looking stain is normal. They always come out with a little bit of egg debris on them, or it may be a small poop. (Their first ones are usually very watery.) The yolk sac should eventually get absorbed, but I would keep her in the incubator for a couple days.
 
@Rose Quartz may be right. I looked at the pic again and it doesn’t exactly look like a yolk sac. Although they are right and you CAN pull off the debris, I wouldn’t suggest doing this. If it’s not attached to the chick it will eventually fall off on its own, but I wouldn’t risk pulling it out, just in case it IS attached.
 
That doesnt look like a yolk sack to me, it looks like waste that is usually left over inside the egg.

You can remove it so long as you dont pull anything out of it's navel
Thanks!
I haven't messed with it at all, but it does seem to be drying out just fine. I'll check on her again when I get home from work and maybe just cut any excess off so that it doesn't pull.
 

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