It seems every hatch I have there is at least one chick that gets stuck and just peeps and peeps and peeps! How can you just let them die without helping them at all?! I really REALLY hate assisting a hatch just because I know that there could be something wrong with the chick and I would then have to cull it. But I look at it like this. Either I help the chick hatch, or it has no chance and it dies. Now I don't know about you, but I rather take the risk and help the poor chick out!
My story of what happened this hatch.
It started as any other hatch I've done, water in tray, temp set, all good to go right?! Not... Days later when the incubator ran outta water I forgot to fill it up. Days went by and I finally filled it up. More days passed and the same thing. I eventually gave up and didn't even put water it the tray again... Not even for "lockdown"! Not to mention i never candled and removed the bad eggs. Oh, and this hatch didn't even have a lockdown, I went on a trip for the weekend and totally forgot about this hatch.. When I got home, there was two chicks sitting in the turner. AHHH!!! I forgot to take it out!! I immediately unplugged the turner but didn't want to take it out. More hours passed and more chicks hatched. Eventually ones head got wedged in between the turner which gave me no choice but to take the turner out. So I opened the incubator, during "lockdown" and removed the turner. The next morning I had something close to 15 chicks running around and I decided to take them out. With the incubator empty I could see the eggs that were left. I noticed two eggs that died in the shell (no motion) and one egg that got stuck half way zipped. Literally all day this chick peeped. When he started getting quieter I knew he was on his last wing. I decided to do an emergency assisted hatch. I opened the incubator ( humidity was at 27%) and took him out. Got a plastic knife and warm damp paper towel and got down to work. I slowly chipped away at the shell.. Piece by piece until I had a zip around the shell. The chick pushed the rest of the way out onto the paper towel. I quickly grabby the paper towel and tossed it in the incubator. When I was setting him down I accidentally bumped an egg and It rolled over to yet another stuck chick!! Where I thought I had one stuck chick, I really had two! So got more supplies and performed another assisted hatch. This one went great but the shell was so dry and stuck to it I had to leave a large portion of the shell and shell membrane stuck to the back of the chick. When the chick started walking around in the incubator I took him back out and washed him in warm water. The shell and membrane slowly washed off and into the brooder with all it's other hatch mates he went! They seem to be doing ok so far.. The one in the incubator still hasn't found its feet yet so I'm not to sure about it.. Hoping for the best! I sure do HATE assisting a hatch..
Along with this hatch I got a chick with badly splayed legs! I've never hatched a splayed leg chick before but have read about putting band aids around the legs and forming kinda a splint. So that exactly what I did! The legs are tucked under his body but he's still not walking quite yet.
I was incredibly lucky with this hatched and was blessed with 18 healthy chicks plus 3 chicks that I'm sure are going to do just fine. That's a total of 21 chicks! That's pretty good hatch for overturned, humidity less, no lockdown eggs! Lesson learned here was dont slack off and keep the water trough filled, don't forget about lockdown and get the eggs out of the turner! I'm over all pretty pleased with this hatch!
My story of what happened this hatch.
It started as any other hatch I've done, water in tray, temp set, all good to go right?! Not... Days later when the incubator ran outta water I forgot to fill it up. Days went by and I finally filled it up. More days passed and the same thing. I eventually gave up and didn't even put water it the tray again... Not even for "lockdown"! Not to mention i never candled and removed the bad eggs. Oh, and this hatch didn't even have a lockdown, I went on a trip for the weekend and totally forgot about this hatch.. When I got home, there was two chicks sitting in the turner. AHHH!!! I forgot to take it out!! I immediately unplugged the turner but didn't want to take it out. More hours passed and more chicks hatched. Eventually ones head got wedged in between the turner which gave me no choice but to take the turner out. So I opened the incubator, during "lockdown" and removed the turner. The next morning I had something close to 15 chicks running around and I decided to take them out. With the incubator empty I could see the eggs that were left. I noticed two eggs that died in the shell (no motion) and one egg that got stuck half way zipped. Literally all day this chick peeped. When he started getting quieter I knew he was on his last wing. I decided to do an emergency assisted hatch. I opened the incubator ( humidity was at 27%) and took him out. Got a plastic knife and warm damp paper towel and got down to work. I slowly chipped away at the shell.. Piece by piece until I had a zip around the shell. The chick pushed the rest of the way out onto the paper towel. I quickly grabby the paper towel and tossed it in the incubator. When I was setting him down I accidentally bumped an egg and It rolled over to yet another stuck chick!! Where I thought I had one stuck chick, I really had two! So got more supplies and performed another assisted hatch. This one went great but the shell was so dry and stuck to it I had to leave a large portion of the shell and shell membrane stuck to the back of the chick. When the chick started walking around in the incubator I took him back out and washed him in warm water. The shell and membrane slowly washed off and into the brooder with all it's other hatch mates he went! They seem to be doing ok so far.. The one in the incubator still hasn't found its feet yet so I'm not to sure about it.. Hoping for the best! I sure do HATE assisting a hatch..
Along with this hatch I got a chick with badly splayed legs! I've never hatched a splayed leg chick before but have read about putting band aids around the legs and forming kinda a splint. So that exactly what I did! The legs are tucked under his body but he's still not walking quite yet.
I was incredibly lucky with this hatched and was blessed with 18 healthy chicks plus 3 chicks that I'm sure are going to do just fine. That's a total of 21 chicks! That's pretty good hatch for overturned, humidity less, no lockdown eggs! Lesson learned here was dont slack off and keep the water trough filled, don't forget about lockdown and get the eggs out of the turner! I'm over all pretty pleased with this hatch!
