Intervention: Helping Your Chicks Hatch

[RooRidgeFarm]

It is day 21... I have an awfully malpositioned chick. He pipped in the middle through the internal and external membrane. He was never able to zip. 8 hours later and a browning membrane, I stepped in, added moisture to the membrane and stretched the membrane out a little, he then started chirping. Two hours later-- no progress, so I remoistened the membrane and stretched it more after removing a larger window of the shell. He has visible veining. Now what do I do?? How long do I wait. It has been almost 12 hours since I first hegan the process of assisting, but I really don't wast to lose this baby.... The chick has gotten a little quieter but is still responsive to my voice and chirping on occasion. Its head appears to be behind his legs?!? I see beak and "knee joint" in the window. He pushes but can't make it happen... please help

Hi, I just came across your post. If you still need help...remove as much of the shell as you can and then gently work on the membrane. If you can roll the membrane down (like rolling a sock off your leg) then get the head and shoulders free. After that let the chick rest a bit, put flour on any bleeding and moisten the rest of the membrane and the chick should be able to get out.

I hope you were able to get it out as I didn't get notified that there were new posts in my thread until just recently.
Let me know how it went.

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

I did it! Very little blood, and left him in his shell until this morning. When I pulled back thw last piece of membrane he just rolled out. He is somewhere between mad that he can't stand and happy to be out Without thia thread he would have died!!! Thank you!!! Probably be doing it again in 8 hours for another. 1st time to hatch and humidity was obviously not my forte.

Good job! Bump that humidity up with wetting a washcloth or two and/or adding some wet paper towels to the incubator. Humidity is waaay low where I am right now, so i am bumping up the humidity at least three days before hatch day.adding humidity even after pipping starts is helpful.

So good to hear you were able to save one!

 

[RobinB84]

Here is my little one! Came home to a chirping baby in the bator!!! I help him make his grand entry 12 hours ago

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Here is my little one! Came home to a chirping baby in the bator!!! I help him make his grand entry 12 hours ago

Very cute! Looks like a Silkie? Enjoy your baby they grow so fast

 

[RobinB84]

It is a little silkie (it is a little blurry). Thank you!!

 

[sssharon]

The day that my 3 chicks started pipping I had just increased the humidity in incubator by plugging up a hole and after that the first chick really started progressing. It may have been coincidence but that was in my head that that's what caused the speed up. I'm new at hatching eggs also. Glad your chick came out okay.. Way to keep with it.

 

[Aussie-chick]

I hate to hijack this thread but I really am a novice and I am worried about my duck eggs. (Edited to add Im in Australia and I did just find that KC need 28 days to hatch)

Tomorrow eggs will have been sat on by Mumma duck for 24 days (Khaki Campbell 12 months old)

While she hopped off to eat yesterday morning I took the opportunity to sneak into the nest and pick up an egg for a look. It was very dark like something was black on the inside but not all over. My worry is that I either have rotten eggs about to explode or ducklings ready to hatch and I don't want to do the wrong thing by them. No noise could be heard from the egg.

Do the lovely members here have any suggestions for something I should be doing or just butt out (nature has only been doing this for 1000 of years lol) I have been truing to find an answer on the forum or google but I can't really find heaps of info on anything other than incubator hatching.

Many thanks in advance. Hope I don't sound like an idiot lol

Libby

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

I hate to hijack this thread but I really am a novice and I am worried about my duck eggs. (Edited to add Im in Australia and I did just find that KC need 28 days to hatch)

Tomorrow eggs will have been sat on by Mumma duck for 24 days (Khaki Campbell 12 months old)

While she hopped off to eat yesterday morning I took the opportunity to sneak into the nest and pick up an egg for a look. It was very dark like something was black on the inside but not all over. My worry is that I either have rotten eggs about to explode or ducklings ready to hatch and I don't want to do the wrong thing by them. No noise could be heard from the egg. 

Do the lovely members here have any suggestions for something I should be doing or just butt out  (nature has only been doing this for 1000 of years lol) I have been truing to find an answer on the forum or google but I can't really find heaps of info on anything other than incubator hatching.

Many thanks in advance. Hope I don't sound like an idiot lol

Libby

Sounds like you are OK for now. You have a few days left. Things to look for if you think the eggs might be bad are a definite rotten egg smell, and/or 'weeping' of the egg. Weeping is when you see some droplets of a light goldish color or similar on the egg.
Let us know how it tuns out!

 

[Aussie-chick]

OMG a heap of noise this morning and we have 9 perfect ducklings! Turns out the only one I did pick up was rotten!

Thank you Roo for the reply!

 

[eightysbaby1980]

I have a mallard duck egg on day 30 and I can hear tapping and movement inside but not sure if it has even internally piped yet. What is the absolute longest it could take for it to hatch. I also noticed last night that the air cell seems to shift when the egg is turned or tiltsed? Is that a detached air cell and if so what's that mean for my little duck wil he still be able to hatch?