How come people are so anxious to help chicks hatch?

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If the membrane is too dry and you have had humidity at the right levels try limiting airflow over the eggs by leaving the plugs in the last 3 days. It has worked for a few I know.

Is your LG a still air or forced air? I have a forced air LG but transfer to a still air HOVA for hatch so I can get that humidity up nice and high.
 
I don't advocate helping eggs to hatch. Yes, I did help the geese to hatch. I felt compelled to help them. I now have 5 active babies peeping and splashing in water. If I had not helped I think they would have died in the shells like the other 2. They were struggling so hard my gut told me I had to help them. So, I did. Is it good that I helped? I don't know. I do know hatching goose eggs is extremely hard compared to chicken eggs.
 
Hi!
People are anxious to help chicks because people are just naturally impatient
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I agree with letting nature take it's course when hens are naturally hatching eggs.

In an incubator, there is nothing natural about it --- it is an artificial environment.

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Lisa
 
I think it's in our nature, especially women, to want to "save" them. My Dad always told me with any of our farm animals that only the strong survive. If there is any sort of defect in the animal whatsoever the rest of the litter, herd, flock will cull it naturally. That chick you "save" will be at the bottom of the pecking order and have to live a life of being picked on and ridiculed and possibly pecked to death. He gave in once and let me keep a runt pig. In the long run he was right and I've accepted what Mother Nature intends ever since. So the moral of the story is to listen to the old farm wisdom and let 'em be, it's actually more humane.
 
I think another reason people think it is okay to help hatch is that they believe that once the chick pips, it is ready to hatch and is just resting or waiting for some reason. This, of course, is not true and the chick may need another day or so before they can survive outside the egg. Perhaps a more detailed explanation of what is actually happening during those last 24-48 hours as a sticky, or as an addendum to the "helping Hatch" thread may be beneficial. Although we are all well meaning, I don't think the majority of the people on here fully understand what is happening physiologically inside that egg before they "help" it out. I have seen posts where people think there is something wrong because the chick is curled up tight, it's head upside down, with a wing wrapped around it. Or, it is thought that the chick suffocated when, in reality, it was most likely something else entirely that caused the chick to die. The fact of the matter is that there is a very specific chain of biological events that must take place for a chick to hatch and it is largely involuntary from the chicks perspective. Interfering with the process normally does far more damage than good. I also want to stress that this is not a "beat up the helpers" thread but rather one that will help people understand why it should be so rare of an occurance when you are operating your incubator properly.

Richard
 
Thanks Richard (Marans Guy) that is very helpful and you have a good idea about the addendum sticky
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yes we(the ones that are new to hatching including me) are learning here and asking questions is key to that process
 
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There is another thread that just got started with a lot of detailed info on it. I just added this to that thread but thought it could be useful here too. I think that all of this info should be added to the "helping" sticky so as to allow everyone to make the most informed decision possible.

Drawdown occurs when the air cell changes shape as the embryo, using the egg tooth, punctures the inner shell membrane and enters the air cell. The egg is designed to allow ease of exit from the egg, and the egg tooth is used to begin unzipping the eggshell in a circular manner, usually at the larger end of the egg.

The initiation of hatch occurs partially from the increased carbon dioxide level in the egg. This causes the embryo to begin twitching it's muscles, allowing the inner shell membrane to be punctured by the egg tooth. The chick then begins breathing the air in the air cell. As the carbon dioxide level begins to rise again, the muscularis complexus (the pipping muscle) at the back of the neck begins twitching again, facilitating the hatch. Abdominal muscles also begin twitching, which helps draw the yolk sac into the coelom. Leg muscle twitching helps strengthen the legs.

Assisting the hatch is a difficult decision, and in this author's experience, many aviculturists will do more harm than good by assisting the hatch. Normally the chick will hatch 24-48 hours after drawdown has occurred. By making a pin-hole in the egg shell over the air cell, the carbon dioxide level will drop, actually slowing the hatch. Making a pin-hole or opening the air cell end of the egg should only be done if the vocalization level of the hatching chick is decreasing or other signs indicating that the chick is in trouble are evident (for example, if the chick doe not pip into the air cell).

Richard

P.S. For those that don't know, the coelom (pronounced see-lum) is the technical term for the abdominal cavity.
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I totally agree with this...it shouldn't be a sticky, people 'think" they are suppose to help and thats is not true....
 
It might not be letting nature take its course..... but what is natural about an incubator? lol I admit when I was a kid I peeled my duck out of his shell. He lived a great life and thought I was his momma! Alot of us on here are new to this whole thing and excited and want the best for our feathered babies. Lets just keep doing what we do best, "giving advise" and support, and let them learn on their own.
Tink
 
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There is actually a very big difference between the two. We use incubators because we may not have a broody hen available or because we want to hatch more than what one can handle. The incubator does the best job it can on replicating the environment. "Peeling" a chick out of it's egg prematurely is not " wanting the best" for our feathered babies. It is more than unnatural, it can be detrimental to the chick. Sure, some can survive, a few may even need the help to survive, but the point here is to caution those who want to interfere much too soon and save them the heartbreak of killing the chicks. It seems that you are somehow feeling offended by this information and for that I am sorry as it is certainly not the intention. I do want to help people learn and by providing factual information about how chicks develop is a great way to do so.

Richard
 
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