URGENT! just hatched chick has stuff coming out of bottom

[FenDruadin]

I have noticed that ducks who hatch with the umbilical cord still attached often don't fluff up easily. I don't understand it, but it seems to be a pattern. They are usually all right after 24 hours or so.

I would be a little concerned that the younger one is considerably more coordinated than the other, but it still might be okay too.

Personally, I would help out the chick that has been zipped for 20 hours. That's not normal. I'm assuming by "zipped" you mean that the chick has poked holes all the way around the top of the egg so that the "lid" is no longer connected to the bottom, or is hanging on by only a small section? If it has been sitting like that for 20 hours, then it is probably in trouble. It is usually quite safe to help them at that point--just pop that top off and pop her back in the bator.

It sounds like humidity problems to me, but it might be a problem with the eggs too--still, I would never try to *reduce* the humidity during a hatch. You want it good and moist in there to prevent membranes from drying out, which will cause the chicks to have a very hard time getting out. It can also cause problems like poor yolk absorption.

Don't beat yourself up, though. We all make mistakes in incubating. Just do the best you can and learn from the experience. It sounds like the chicks are going to be just fine--they just need a little extra TLC.

 

[lemurchaser]

It sounds like they're hatching a little under developed. Was your humidity high during the incubation?

Mine are sometimes crusty and have their fluff dried down if there is too much fluid (or egg white) still in the egg when they hatch. You can just gently rub them and they'll fluff up.

 

[ChicknCharm]

Well, the little black one that hatched first and had the unabsorbed yolk did not make it. The second chic I washed quickly in warm water under the heat lamp and put it back in the brooder with the red light. She still has not fluffed up, only in one or two spots. She is sleeping and looks half dead which is disturbing.

The one that had partially zipped I left in the bator. But the bottom was full of blood and gunk and the liner I had was completely gooped up and sticky...just like these poor chicks. So, I pulled out the liner and then peeled off the egg shell and outer membrane of that zipped chick. I wrapped her in a wet paper towel, but not tightly....I think she was really on her way out...she was trying to get her head out. I was so scared she was glued in the shell with the sticky stuff.

This is the worst hatch I have ever had. These eggs were from a friend and she did mention that she did know how old the eggs were. I read on a previous thread that old eggs will hatch "sticky" chics. One egg was a found egg a friend of my daughter's brought, this is the yellow one I tried to fluff up with a quickie wash.

I could have had high humidity during hatching, we are paranoid out here about humidity as the high desert is so dry. But, all my other hatches were OK. Still, two chics from two sources hatched sticky. There are several threads here on "sticky chics" and all say the problem is low humidity.

What is correlation to high humidity and egg white sticky?

Lastly, can someone tell me, I had to take the hatched chicks out of the bator quickly before...now the remaining one is in an aquarium with a red light, it is just at about 100 degrees, but no humidity whatsoever...it is so dry here. Will the just hatched chick dry out too much? I gave it some water with a dropper.

Thank you, thank you....for helping on this one.

 

[FenDruadin]

I don't think the hatched chick will dry out too much (but I've never hatched in the dry desert!). But do go ahead and give it access to water--as soon as they are coordinated, they can drink & play in shallow water (i.e., a waterer--not swimming water, obviously), and it will prevent dehydration.

I'll bet old eggs are the culprit. You're obviously not a first-timer, so you know what you're doing. If the eggs were old, I would guess it could cause all sorts of problems. I am sorry to hear about it all, though--so sad!

 

[ChicknCharm]

We are not sure of the age of eggs, but my dear friend did mention they could be old. I thought my luck would prevail. But, what a lot to learn from this experience. I just thought old eggs would not hatch...had no idea it would be prenatal post-mortem and trailing yolks with blood everywhere. YECH. Never again, I will ask the age of eggs.

So, this is very strange. There were two eggs remaining and at 2:00am when I finally went to bed, I resolved to help those if they did not zip by morning. They did not zip nor pip. I opened them up and the chicks had developed. One had water in the air sac, which suggests too high humidity. The second looked more dried up and just looking up through the membrane, the air sac was just an air sac (no water). Dead chicks in the eggs really creep me out. They look at you like you have failed them....ugh!

The chick that I helped out is alive today and did absorb the yolk just fine. So, I am hopeful...BUT both my chicks are still sticky messes. I gave them a bath with a drip of Dawn and warm, warm water under the red heat lamp and put them right back in the bator. I gently scrubbed with a tooth brush. The older one is peeping like crazy, but still does not fluff up after three baths...she is already pecking at food and I gave her water through a dropper. The other just came out of her membrane this morning, she is laying flat on her belly and jumping up when pecked a bit by the more active sibling, she is weaker but really just hatched. These eggs came from different sources.

I am thinking, too, it must be old eggs and perhaps high humidity?

I checked for a string on Sticky Chicks and found conflicting information. Should I start a thread to get input on this subject? Poor things do not even look like chicks and it makes you panic more for the way they look. Scary!

THANKS AGAIN, fellow chicken obsessors!

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
Sticky chicks are caused by high humidity - the egg doesn't lose enough moisture during incubation, so there's extra goo left in the egg when they hatch. Here's what a sticky chick looks like next to a normal chick, just after I pulled them out of the 'bator - you're right, they look so sad! :

 

[ChicknCharm]

You know, my instinct was high humidity and the one egg with the water in the air sac confirms that. Don't know about the second one that was gazing at me through the membrane, a bit shriveled. I feel it is high humidity, too.

BUT...there are lots of threads on here that say LOW humidity. So, I may start a string so we can get some insight. It is awful. I have washed theses little guys two to three times...and they still look like 80's hairgel models. Poor things. My last attempt, I scrubbed them dry with a soft toothbrush, that did fluff them up a bit. Now, I just hope I have not handled them too much for survival.

There is so much to learn...and I was too late for those two little unhatched puffballs.

The first must have hatched early to have had the yolk not absorbed? Poor thing...the blood was really upsetting.

THANKS FOR THAT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION!!!! I am off to double check humidity suggestions.

 

[lemurchaser]

The low humidity problem is that they get dried to the membrane and "shrink wrapped" but the chicks themselves usually aren't sticky. I've noticed with sticky chicks that they still have a lot of goo in the egg when they hatch, so my theory is too high of humidity or too early hatching. I've never heard about it due to old eggs, that doesn't make as much sense to me.

Instead of washing them try taking the dried crusty fluff and ruffling it up. I lift up the fluff in the opposite way its going and pinch and twirl it between my fingers. You don't want to get skin, just break up the crusts. It's dried egg white, so it won't wash off as well as it will crumble.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
I think your sticky chicks will be okay.

I washed my little guy once, got a little bit of the goop off, made sure that his little bung-hole wasn't glued shut, and then I just let the rest of the egg white dry and crumble off as he grew. He looked awful, but he didn't seem too perturbed by it.

I wanted to share this picture with you too - these are the same two chicks I posted, all grown up (the one on the left was the sad little sticky guy). Sticky chicks can mature into healthy, beautiful birds!

Also, I've been using this website a lot lately: http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/trouble.html#SE
It says that sticky chicks can be caused by high humidity, low temperature, genetics (or perhaps the age of the egg?), or too little ventilation in the 'bator. It says that the chick can be stuck to the shell is the humidity was too low.

I know that my little Cochin chick hatched sticky because the humidity was too high - it was the middle of a wet summer, and we couldn't get the ambient humidity in the house below 65%.

 

[eggspresso]

Thank you, this is very good advise. This is my first incubator hatch and one of the chicks has the same thing.