Intervention: Helping Your Chicks Hatch

[LuannKeller]

I do help chicks and it usually ends with a happy ending.

About 2/3 make it our without help, but pullet egg chicks often run out of room to manuever.

I get a better hatch rate than most people I know and I think it is likely due to helping those eggbound fellows out.

Humidity often causes issues with a hatch and it is not genetic, so I feel that I am doing no harm.

I am working on a miniaturization project where we are selecting against large size so we have already violated the rules of nature. We are also selecting against long backs - another violation of Darwinism.

The key is to know when they are truly ready and provide the best incubating you can. Candling and good heat and humidity are my helps.

Each person has to make their own decision, but after the hatch I see no difference in those helped and those who arrived without help.

 

[APage]

I was searching all over the net to find out what to do with my chicks .. they have been chirping for a day or two with no piping or very little pips but no zipping . . . this is my first hatch ever and I was kind of just winging it . . .I have a thermometer but nothing to check humidity . . . I decided to assist and now have 6 chicks all alive some more active, others just lying there kind of regaining some strength I think. . . .all of them had very tough white membranes and were so stuck they would have never made it out on there own . . now I'm just waiting to see if they all make it from here! . . Thank you, thank you for this great info! . . I probably would have lost all of my chicks!

 

[walkswithdog]

Bump. This should be a sticky. It saved Ponder's life.

 

[katiek]

I waited for 36 hours. I figured that was enough time. I used your directions, and just saved the life of this little chick.

So thank you very much! It feels great to give "birth".

 

[hinkjc]

Quote:
Actually, it already is. It is linked in the 'read me on hatching' sticky at the top of this section. But no one reads them.

 

[katiek]

I read them!!!!

 

[jensaisquoi]

I have a question/clarification...if there is no cheeping, no pipping, no movement of the egg visible through the incubator window...do I try to poke a hole in the egg in the air sac to see if there's anything going on? I'm on Day 22 and I got nothin'...

There was movement on Day 18 when I last candled...could they have drowned? Or just quit late? Only two that made it/developed since I had long shipping issues and many temp fluxes...
The same thing happened on my last hatch with local eggs.
I had two make it till the end and then quit...

The highest my humidity has been is 74 percent;right now it's about 61 and I'm wondering what to do.

Thanks!


Jen

 

[pefferlawchicken]

yes i need to know the same thing , do you poke a hole in the air sac?????

 

[BirdBrain]

I guess at this point it wouldn't hurt to poke a hole in one or two to see if there is anything going on. You may run into membrane drying issues, so keep a close eye on that.

 

[klf73]

I would make a hole at the very top if your temps were good(not low, delaying hatch). I just did that, had no more pips after 24 hours. All had passed except one, which I covered with a piece of scotch tape(didn't go near where they would pip). I waited another 12 hours and checked it, it passed too...it was breech and didn't look right

. I would candle before making a hole and if there is movement just put it back in the bator and mist to bring humidity back up. Good luck!