- Mar 5, 2013
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I have a baby that i didnt know was still alive. he has been in the bator for 24 or 25 days. I tried helping him but i dont think he is ready. There is blood around his beak so i stopped. I have no idea when he even started breaking through his shell. He is peeping a little but the only movement i can see is his breathing. I dont know if he is even ready to come out yet. Tips?
Hi,
Ok, so blood around the beak could mean several things. Did he pip and the blood came from his pip? Or did it occur when you started to help? And how much blood is it?
Blood can appear when a chick accidentley pips into a blood vessel and that can be a tricky thing to help with. You have a fine balance between getting a struggling chick out and not causing them to bleed to death. If there is a lot of blood,carefully take a q-tip and absorb it GENTLY from around the face and nostrils. If the chick has a clear nasal passage, then you don't have to worry about removing the blood so much.
Be careful in handling the membrane and shell. If you do not carefully PINCH the shell off using the dull tweezers, you can end up pulling on the membrane underneath and causing the blood vessels to bleed.
Listen to the chick and watch his movements. Try and give it more time to allow the blood vessels to dry up a little bit more, BUT listen and watch. If the chicks movements get weaker and the cheeping less and quieter, you may just have to go ahead and help that chick out fairly quickly. From what it sounds, this is going to be a difficult case, and be prepared for it to end with an undesired result. Your chick definitely is on the late side of incubation, and I would suggest that the temps were off. Hatching issues, and different types of development problems happen at lower temps. The chick may be large and mushy almost, and he will not be able to turn and zip out himself due to physical development problems. This is where helping hatch will be tricky. If you feel the chick is going to die in the shell, you can do a quicker removal. You will need blood stop powder or even flour to help stop any bleeding.
What my son does in tricky cases is, after he removes almost all shell and moistens the membrane, he will start at the pip site of the membrane and gently stretch and ROLL the membrane down (like rolling socks off your feet). Once you get the head and shoulders out-STOP. Don't roll the membrane down any more as it will take a little time for the bottom of the vessels to cauterize and for the umbilical to start to separate from the membrane. So what happens when you do the quick method is this: The quick rolling of the membrane almost acts like a constrictor-you are rolling the membrane down the chicks body and as it rolls, the blood flow is being restricted. You will have some bleeding, but it 'should' not be too bad. Keep the flour handy and use it anywhere there is bleeding, but not the eyes or nostrils or mouth. Wait and keep the membrane moist. After a few hours the umbilical will be getting closer to drying up and you can carefully roll the membrane down a little more.
I hope this helps. Sorry it was long winded, but helping chicks is not always simple.
Let us know how things go