When do I step in to help?

[KatjaMontaldos]

Hi all. So last week my broody hen went out to eat and drink and I noticed a dried broken egg stuck to her so I panicked and went to check on the rest of the eggs and noticed one of the eggs were broken along the top by the air sack. I brought it inside to dispose of it thinking it had died but to my surprise I could see the little one moving under the membrane. I put some plastic wrap to cover the hole and put the egg in the incubator worried it wouldn’t survive the next few days. Well 3 days later and the little one was still alive and growing. I went to the shops and got some micropore tape, removed the plastic and used a damp warm cotton swab to wipe the membrane as it started drying out and covered the hole with the micropore tape. We have now gone into lockdown 2 days ago and I’m worried the membrane has dried out again but I’m too scared to open the incubator to check if I need to soften the membrane with an earbud again. Hatching day should be Sunday. The baby was still alive when it went into lockdown but I’m not sure if it still is.

What should I do? Since this is a special case do I open the incubator and try soften the membrane again if it is dry? Do I leave it and hope for the best? I really want the little one to survive…
I’ve attached some photos to show the size of the opening of the egg pre lockdown and post lockdown.

Also as a note: I have made sure the humidity is higher than generally recommended pre lockdown just to aid the membrane in staying moist. We also experience loadshedding as we are in South Africa so we have power cuts 2-3 times a day that last between 2 and 4 hours so the incubator temps drop during the loadshedding, I’m thinking this might delay the hatching and it doesn’t help that it’s been raining and overcast the past few days…

 

[Egghead_Jr]

What's your humidity at? It shouldn't dry out much if you're over 70% RH. There's no way to have too much humidity and drown a chick when the shell over the air sack is open.

As for opening the incubator during hatch- nothing wrong with it. This "lock down" lingo is internet forum tendency for extremes; like overuse of all capitals and exclamation points. Paranoia of "shrink wrap" is highly over rated.

 

[KatjaMontaldos]

So should I open to check on baby or just give it some time? First baby under mama just hatched so the rest and this lil guy should follow soon.

What's your humidity at? It shouldn't dry out much if you're over 70% RH. There's no way to have too much humidity and drown a chick when the shell over the air sack is open.

As for opening the incubator during hatch- nothing wrong with it. This "lock down" lingo is internet forum tendency for extremes; like overuse of all capitals and exclamation points. Paranoia of "shrink wrap" is highly over rated.

 

[KatjaMontaldos]

Photo of mom with her first baby!!! So exciting!!

 

[KatjaMontaldos]

I forgot to add, humidity is between 65-75%. With the cooler weather I’ve been struggling to keep it up but I’ve been trying my best to keep it at 70-75%.

 

[KatjaMontaldos]

Ok new update: I decided to check and the membrane had dried out quite a bit. The membrane with the chick is almost completely detached from the shell egg, the membrane is around the chick filling maybe only half the egg. I tried softening the membrane up wherever I could reach with the earbud. The little one is still moving so it is alive but I’m worried it is being shrink wrapped due to our loadshedding and the incubator constantly going on and off and the shell basically being open and not keeping any of its own humidity in. I’ve just checked humidity and it’s sitting at 65% despite all water reservoirs being full. Our next scheduled loadshedding is in 4 hours so I’m hoping he manages to start breaking free before then just so I can see how he’s doing without releasing any warmth or humidity at a time the incubator will off.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Ok new update: I decided to check and the membrane had dried out quite a bit. The membrane with the chick is almost completely detached from the shell egg, the membrane is around the chick filling maybe only half the egg. I tried softening the membrane up wherever I could reach with the earbud. The little one is still moving so it is alive but I’m worried it is being shrink wrapped due to our loadshedding and the incubator constantly going on and off and the shell basically being open and not keeping any of its own humidity in. I’ve just checked humidity and it’s sitting at 65% despite all water reservoirs being full. Our next scheduled loadshedding is in 4 hours so I’m hoping he manages to start breaking free before then just so I can see how he’s doing without releasing any warmth or humidity at a time the incubator will off.

Can you see any veins under the membrane? With no shell protecting the membrane I would be worried it leathered which can make it near impossible for a chick to pip through on its own. I am usually a big advocate for waiting the full 24 hours after they start hatching to assist, but this is a special circumstance. I would make a small air hole in the membrane at the very least if the veins are not visible where the shell is broken. If the membrane is starting to get a hard leather feel and is drying to the chick and the others are already hatching I would go ahead and assist the hatch. What I do for shrink wrapped cases is every 3 hours peel a small piece of membrane away at a time then wait another 3 hours and peel another small spot. This allows time for any veins to dry up and the yolk to finish absorbing.

 

[KatjaMontaldos]

Ok so I had to break away some of the shell that wasn’t attached to any membrane to get a better look. It was feeling leathery and I noticed some mold (I think that’s what it was) on some of the membrane. We made a small hole near his beak where we couldn’t see any blood vessels. There is definitely still some blood vessels present though. We made sure to moisten as much of the membrane and I tried wiping away whatever greyish mold I saw.
He’s definitely definitely getting ready as he’s constantly moving around.
I’ll wait another 3 hours to check on his progress and see if I need to help any more.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Ok so I had to break away some of the shell that wasn’t attached to any membrane to get a better look. It was feeling leathery and I noticed some mold (I think that’s what it was) on some of the membrane. We made a small hole near his beak where we couldn’t see any blood vessels. There is definitely still some blood vessels present though. We made sure to moisten as much of the membrane and I tried wiping away whatever greyish mold I saw.
He’s definitely definitely getting ready as he’s constantly moving around.
I’ll wait another 3 hours to check on his progress and see if I need to help any more.
View attachment 3401028

It looks to have pipped on its own? Am I seeing that right? If so he might be able to hatch on its own, but if it is mold growing that would worry me.

 

[KatjaMontaldos]

I will do that, thank you so much!! I’ll post an update later then when I see the veins start receding.