Intervention: Helping Your Chicks Hatch

[Charli Jo]

Can't believe what just happened. I had orpington chicks with beak in sight and been watching for over a day. One of them finally decided to come out on day 22 , turn around and suffocated himself!
8 hrs before there were still blood vessels, it would have been typically wrong have done any more. This was right around 5 am..- I guess I would of had to be vigilant throughout the night?

I had just also hatch some little Seramas. These needed help each step of way and the smallest was my first success where there wasn't even an internal pip. I couldn't even find the beak it was buried some but near the air cell. i was able to expose her beak just before suffocation as saw struggling flutter movement under..But lost a big well developed orpington.. ?!

 

[rehabber0909]

HELP! I have a first time mama who stepped on her ready to hatch egg. It is crushed but the membrane appears to be intact and the duckling is breathing. I put it in the still air incubator heat at 102 humidity at 42% Should I wait for the chick to pip or should I intervene. I just brought the egg in about 30 minutes ago.

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Rehaber...
Since the shell has been altered, you'll need to go ahead and step in. Try and find a spot in the membrane near the beak that doesn't have any blood vessels. Pip it there yourself using really sharp tweezers carefully.
You can open a breathing space near its nostrils and let it rest there for a bit-30 mins or so. After a wait, don't rush it, you can go ahead and open the membrane further around its entire head. If it starts minor bleeding flour the bleed and wait a bit to work again. If you get a lot of bleeding during that slow process you will need to just move fast and roll membrane QUICKLY and steadily down its head and body to around its shoulders. Roll it like a sock or tight pantyhose. Rolling it cuts off the blood vessels and slows bleeding!
STOP at the shoulders! It will take some time for the umbilical to stop getting blood flow. At that point if duckling is fine and alive, let it rest as much as it needs. It should regain strength and manipulate itself out after time. Your goal is head and shoulders out.

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

And keep in mind, depending on hatch readiness, you want to keep the membrane ABOVE the umbilical in case the yolk has not entirely absorbed as well as letting the blood flow dry up to the umbilical. A duckling or chick can stay in their membrane halfway like that for as long as they need-it doesn't hurt them- just make sure they can expand and contract easily to breathe freely. UP your humidity to 65% ish. Watch its breathing after you raise humidity. If it's laboring to breathe back down on humidity. Keep membrane moist during your help and while duckling rests to finally wiggle out on its own. If it dries and shrinks, the duckling won't ever be able to manipulate itself out the rest of the way.

Something to look for if duckling makes it through hatching, spraddle leg. B vitamins b12/riboflavin are probably a good idea and keep your eyes on the legs in the first several days after hatching. You can make a hobble if you see duckling showing any signs of spraddle. Don't put it out with mom duck or others until you've established it's strength and walking capabilities.

What breed duckling is it?
PS did you say incubator is 102 degrees?? Bring it back down to 99 degrees even. When hatching waterfowl, the hatching temp should be slightly cooler than incubation temps.

 

[rehabber0909]

It's a Rouen crested mallard mix. Thank you so much for your advice. I created a small air hole with the end of a pairing knife and a stretched out paper clip. I heard that sweet little peep of surprise/protest when I did!

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Great! Peeping is a wonderful thing to hear!
Looking at the pic on your other thread was helpful to see. Mom duck was pretty rough on egg!

Go slow working on duckling, but it will need help since there's no shell that it can zip. If all goes well, after recovery time you should have a duckling that can rejoin the rest of the ones that hatch. Keep an eye on inexperienced mom- watch the duck water areas to make sure she doesn't accidently drown/step on ducklings if the water bowls are shallow.

 

[rehabber0909]

So far so good. I'm going to let the little one do the rest if y'all think he can. Thanks everybody for your advice/help. It was all appreciated as I'm a rehabber of mammals, so this is my first egg experience, so I need all the help I can get. Please add anything else that you think I need to do and I will see if it might help this little guy survive. Everyone's experience is different, but it's more than I have which is none! Lol

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Rehabber,
It looks good. Rest for the duckling and time. Keep moist. You did well. There was absolutely no way that it could have made it out with that crushed shell. The duckling should rest, wiggle, rest and then when it's ready, it will start a wiggle and push.

In the end, all of us hope for a live animal.

Best wishes

UPDATE: looking at pic better, it "looks" like duckling had already sustained blood vessel trauma from being stepped on. So opening a little didn't harm anything "most likely". What you "may" "possibly" do next is wait and let duckling rest. Then "possibly" carefully slowly pinch off more shell aiming towards uncovering the area in the pic that's covered by paper towel. Keep moist, rest more. Then the duckling "should" be able to do the rest, recover, and wiggle/push process. If there is too much shell on bottom half, "what I have found" is they can't manoeuvre enough when they're ready to finish "hatching".
I hope this helps you

 

[Ravynscroft]

So far so good. I'm going to let the little one do the rest if y'all think he can. Thanks everybody for your advice/help. It was all appreciated as I'm a rehabber of mammals, so this is my first egg experience, so I need all the help I can get. Please add anything else that you think I need to do and I will see if it might help this little guy survive. Everyone's experience is different, but it's more than I have which is none! Lol

You would like more views/opinions/advice from all angles? There are many experienced hatchers on BYC... here, I can tag a few, no problem...

@minihorse927
@WalnutHill
@DwayneNLiz
@AmyLynn2374
@BYC910
@BantyChooks

Are a few to start...

 

[rehabber0909]

Can you see the duckling better in this pic?