Intervention: Helping Your Chicks Hatch

[RooRidgeFarm]

What did you do about the membrane? Right now I have one out of the egg, still wet but it looks like he has an umbilical cord (membrane?) stuck to the egg. What should I do?

Hi, I assume by the 'egg' you mean the shell. If that is so, keep the membrane moist, give the chick a little rest time-and time for the blood vessels to dry up so it doesn't bleed. After an hour or so, you can start working on the membrane. If you see a LOT of blood stop, apply flour or similar to help clot the blood, and wait another hour or so before working on removing the membrane. The goal is to get the membrane rolled down carefully away from the chick starting at the top near it's head and working downward. You may have to leave the membrane attached at the umbilicle cord site, and after a few hours it will dry up and you can either let it fall off or snip it if it is very dry.
Just so you know, I am the original poster of this thread and I have perfected this method, unfortunately because humidity issues are the main problem when incubating.

 

[dekel18042]

Thank you so much. Your original article was what made us intervene when there was a pip then nothing. After the egg peeping it quieted for a long time and we were worried. My husband put a zip line on with a tweezers, The peep started peeping again and finally hatched.
Thankfully he seems to have separated from the membrane and two shell halves on his own.
Now, the tenth and final egg that I thought was intact, when I took the egg shells out, discovered it had a pip on the bottom so I moved it so the pip was on the side. I have a feeling the hatching chicks may have rolled the eggs as they moved around.
It seems quiet. Should I just wait or zip that one? Or wait and see if we see or hear any activity in it?
This is my first hatch and not sure how to proceed.

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

Until I ran across this thread, the link above was the one I have as my quick go-to for how to do this.

My first hatch should start hatching today, another hatching the 30th, and another 2 Feb 6th! Buuuuut I just want to make sure that if I need to assist any of the 3 I have all the right pages bookmarked and easy to open. I've noticed a lot of people in this thread say you should start assisting around 6 hours or so, but this one says don't assist until much later. Which is it?

Congrats on all of the successful assists I have seen in here! Makes me much more confident that I can do it if I need to! (and all the pictures are just beautiful! Makes me even more excited for my first hatch!)

HI, I am the original poster of the thread: formerly fowlweatherfriends. The article you linked to is informative in several ways. But, there are several factors left out. Leaving a chick for up to 40 hours can almost certainly be a death sentence in my experiences. What happens after a chick pips, but cannot progress in zipping, is the inner membrane will seriously shrink wrap to the chick and squeeze it to death. Some chicks simply are not in a position to be able to pip, some are fit too snugly in the shell to be able to zip-just many factors involved. I have only lost 1 chick by helping out from many years of hatching. But, I have lost many more than that by waiting too long after a pip, and waiting to see if it progresses after as many hours as the other article suggests.
Bottom line, it is more of an experience thing, and an instinct, and somewhat a familiarity with the breed of chick you are hatching-not a set time to wait before helping a chick.
Hopefully, you will have no need to intervene . But be warned, winter is a much more difficult time to hatch chicks. The humidity is much harder to regulate, and if you follow nature, most chicks are born in the spring, summer, and a few early fall, but not many hens hatch during the winter. I have an incubator full of La Fleche right now and I fully expect to be helping some myself due to winter conditions lol.
PS: I have had bantam breeds hatch anywhere from day 17/18 to day 22, and full size breeds have pipped and hatch on day 18. It has nothing to do with temperature as I use a high quality incubator, just keep you eye out for some early birds and some slow bloomers too

.

Best wishes on your hatches!

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Thank you so much. Your original article was what made us intervene when there was a pip then nothing. After the egg peeping it quieted for a long time and we were worried. My husband put a zip line on with a tweezers, The peep started peeping again and finally hatched.
Thankfully he seems to have separated from the membrane and two shell halves on his own.
Now, the tenth and final egg that I thought was intact, when I took the egg shells out, discovered it had a pip on the bottom so I moved it so the pip was on the side. I have a feeling the hatching chicks may have rolled the eggs as they moved around.
It seems quiet. Should I just wait or zip that one? Or wait and see if we see or hear any activity in it?
This is my first hatch and not sure how to proceed.

Ok, here is most likely what I would do...
Since all the others are out, I would candle the egg first and foremost. You can do this quickly in a dark area. Look for the beak to have pipped into the air cell. You should be able to clearly see a pointy object in the air cell (it will look like a dark shadow). If you see the beak moving, put your egg back for a couple of hours and wait to see if it can start zipping the shell itself.
If it cannot zip the shell, you can carefully start the process I described at the beginning of this thread using dull tweezers etc. As you start that tweezing of the shell only, you will be able to asses more if the chick needs help or if you think it can make it out. Because your others have hatched, I would suspect that it is either having a little trouble, OR that it may have for whatever reason dies in the shell already.
If the chick has not pipped into the air cell, you can gently tap or scratch the surface, just to see if you get a response. If a chick is alive but not pipped yet, you should feel some wiggly movement. It will be very slight, but you will know. At that time, let it rest a bit, and wait to see if it pips into the aircell within several hours.

Sorry I am so long-winded, but there is always so much information to cover and each situation is different so I try to cover all bases.
First step: Candle and then go from there.
Let me know if you have any other questions or I left something out.

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Thank you so much. Your original article was what made us intervene when there was a pip then nothing. After the egg peeping it quieted for a long time and we were worried. My husband put a zip line on with a tweezers, The peep started peeping again and finally hatched.
Thankfully he seems to have separated from the membrane and two shell halves on his own.
Now, the tenth and final egg that I thought was intact, when I took the egg shells out, discovered it had a pip on the bottom so I moved it so the pip was on the side. I have a feeling the hatching chicks may have rolled the eggs as they moved around.
It seems quiet. Should I just wait or zip that one? Or wait and see if we see or hear any activity in it?
This is my first hatch and not sure how to proceed.

Oh sheesh. I just reread your post lol. OK, so it DID pip already. Ok, give it some time. For me, I wait about 2 to 6 hours to see if there is any more activity on zipping. You can gently tap or fingernail scratch the surface of the shell and see if you get a loud response from the chick. That will help you know if the chick is peeping WEAKER over time. If after a few hours of waiting for that zip to happen, the chick sounds weaker (after several taps on his shell over the hours checking on strength of peeping) then candle. You will candle, double check to see if you can tell where his beak is. Beaks will scoot around in the shell if the bird is trying to zip but can't. Then starting at the pip site, help remove some of the shell gently following the advice at the head of my thread here.
I hope I covered it this reply lol. Ask me if I left something out.

 

[andieschicks]

HI, I am the original poster of the thread: formerly fowlweatherfriends. The article you linked to is informative in several ways. But, there are several factors left out. Leaving a chick for up to 40 hours can almost certainly be a death sentence in my experiences. What happens after a chick pips, but cannot progress in zipping, is the inner membrane will seriously shrink wrap to the chick and squeeze it to death. Some chicks simply are not in a position to be able to pip, some are fit too snugly in the shell to be able to zip-just many factors involved. I have only lost 1 chick by helping out from many years of hatching. But, I have lost many more than that by waiting too long after a pip, and waiting to see if it progresses after as many hours as the other article suggests.
Bottom line, it is more of an experience thing, and an instinct, and somewhat a familiarity with the breed of chick you are hatching-not a set time to wait before helping a chick.
Hopefully, you will have no need to intervene . But be warned, winter is a much more difficult time to hatch chicks. The humidity is much harder to regulate, and if you follow nature, most chicks are born in the spring, summer, and a few early fall, but not many hens hatch during the winter. I have an incubator full of La Fleche right now and I fully expect to be helping some myself due to winter conditions lol.
PS: I have had bantam breeds hatch anywhere from day 17/18 to day 22, and full size breeds have pipped and hatch on day 18. It has nothing to do with temperature as I use a high quality incubator, just keep you eye out for some early birds and some slow bloomers too

.

Best wishes on your hatches!

Thanks for that clear up!

Unfortunately I'm incubating for an internship I am a part of and they want 3 more hatches by April so.... gotta hatch in the winter, no choice -_-

I have a home-made incubator.... after the 6th when my last set of eggs should be hatching I am going to revamp it because it just doesn't seem to be working as well as I had hoped, but better than my last attempt. I have a top-down window but if they pip on the bottom I might not notice it... should I check every now-and then to see if they have piped the bottom?

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Thanks for that clear up!

Unfortunately I'm incubating for an internship I am a part of and they want 3 more hatches by April so.... gotta hatch in the winter, no choice -_-

I have a home-made incubator.... after the 6th when my last set of eggs should be hatching I am going to revamp it because it just doesn't seem to be working as well as I had hoped, but better than my last attempt. I have a top-down window but if they pip on the bottom I might not notice it... should I check every now-and then to see if they have piped the bottom?

I absolutely do check occasionally myself. It is common for a few to pip on the down side. Checking quickly, and turning them to their side, or or pip side up is best. Some chicks have more liquid in the membrane than others and they can possibly drown. Check occasionally if the others have pipped already and time has passed.

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Thanks, RooRidgeFarms!

I share the birth of this little one with a lady I bought a few chickens from recently.  She was availabe by email for over 10 hours....a midwife for sure!  I ran everything through her before I proceeded and some of her suggestions gave me more insight into what may actually be going on with the chick.  But, when it comes down to it, you have to make the decision whether to intervene.  Since we are not mother hens, I think this type of intervention is probably pretty common in small backyard flocks today.

You are very correct. Humans have removed the natural process and tried creating an artificial one. As we know, humans aren't always good at trying to do things ourselves. I absolutely agree that the backyard farmer/home incubator has to help more often than not which is exactly why I felt the need to create this thread. Some also believe that if a chick can't pip and zip on it's own that is it either genetically deficient somehow or a weak chick that should not live...I say phooey on that. I have dozens that are alive, strong, and great breeders. Just putting in my two cents lol.

 

[kallan]

What did you do about the membrane? Right now I have one out of the egg, still wet but it looks like he has an umbilical cord (membrane?) stuck to the egg. What should I do?

Hopefully by now, it has dried and the chick has separated itself from it. If not let it drag it around a bit and it will.

 

[dekel18042]

Thankfully it dried and came off on its own before I read any of the replies, but at least I'll know what to do the next time. Didn't have a chance to use it but liked the idea of wrapping him in a sock or small towel so he couldn't pull on it. The peep is drying and fluffing in the incubator and when he is totally dry I will move him to the brooder with the others.
I credit the initial post with saving his life as I was just going to wait it out. I had been told to never interfere with a hatching chick.
Unfortunetly the tenth egg which the pip was on the bottom and I didn't realize had a pip is quiet and I think it is gone. I'm guessing the membrane shrank. At least I know to intervene earlier now.
I just wanted to try my new incubator but don't think I will be doing any more winter hatches.