13th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-Along

[BarnyardChaos]

On that note, how do you handle one that appears to be shrink wrapped if you choose not to assist beyond the basics? What is the humane thing to do? How long will it take to die naturally? Not sure how much of the yolk is still getting absorbed and thus keeping it alive.

What do you mean by assisting beyond the basics? I've helped a shrink-wrapped chick or two, by applying warm water with a Q-tip to the edges and surface of the exposed membrane. I very carefully picked away bits of shell until I was sure there would be no bleeding, then kept the membrane moist and warm. In one extreme case, I put a heating pad in a shoebox, covered it with a towel, then added a moist soft cloth and wrapped him in it. Stuck a thermometer in with him to monitor temperature. Took a few hours, but the membrane finally released and he was free.

 

[weddlefarm]

We have 16 baby chicks so far 61 to go

 

[ronott1]

Congratulations on all the new babies!

 

[Lemon-Drop]

We have 16 baby chicks so far 61 to go

That's a lot of chicks! What do you do with all of them?

 

[ronott1]

Well I had a loss. This is never fun. I brood outside in a tractor with heat plates and bedding, etc. and one of the babies I put out last night was outside the heater area when I went out this morning. She was still alive so I breathed a sigh of relief, thought she just needed to get her temp up but then I turned her over and somehow her leg had gotten mangled up. There was no way it would have healed and poor thing had to be in pain so I had to cull.

Worst part of chicken keeping, hands down.

I have a dozen left now and more still pipping. I have one that looked to be starting to zip last night and only made a little progress since (looks like a big hole, like it can’t turn) and I noticed the humidity had dropped a lot. I sprayed two sprays from a water squirt bottle and humidity came back up quickly but I don’t know if now I’ll have sticky chick or what. Last time I had sticky chick didn’t turn out well. That’s the only time I have assisted and I swore I would never do it again.

That does happen!

I had one get caught on the leg in my last hatch.

My first one's out! The other three eggs are drawn down, so they shouldn't be far behind.

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My cat, Casper, is veeery curious... These are the first babies since I adopted him so it's going to be interesting. I've already set up the brooder to be cat-proof so we're covered on that front.

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The cat is so cute!

 

[ronott1]

Well mark mine as all dead or just take my entire thing off not worth adding them....its what i get for dry hatching so whoever saids it works...it dont wasted another month.

Dry hatch is going below the normal 40 to 50% humidity. going below 25% is bad so even with a "dry" hatch, you need to monitor humidity and add water to keep humidity in the 30% range.

I am sorry you lost them!

 

[Mrs J]

Well mark mine as all dead or just take my entire thing off not worth adding them....its what i get for dry hatching so whoever saids it works...it dont wasted another month.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

One of my silkied Cochins is external, and I think the other is internally pipped! I think the third may have died, but leaving it just in case, of course. Here's hoping those two Cochins hurry it along, because that NN baby is not waiting very patiently for company!

The cat is so cute!

Haha, he sure is something, anyway, the stinker! Here's hoping he behaves with the babies in the room!

 

[pinewoodacres]

What do you mean by assisting beyond the basics? I've helped a shrink-wrapped chick or two, by applying warm water with a Q-tip to the edges and surface of the exposed membrane. I very carefully picked away bits of shell until I was sure there would be no bleeding, then kept the membrane moist and warm. In one extreme case, I put a heating pad in a shoebox, covered it with a towel, then added a moist soft cloth and wrapped him in it. Stuck a thermometer in with him to monitor temperature. Took a few hours, but the membrane finally released and he was free.

I guess I mean something more invasive than just picking some shell away or trying to remoisten the membrane. I think I took off too much shell when I did it before and she wasn’t ready. For this one, I removed some already-cracked shell and moistened around the hole. No progress still and the membrane looks like it’s dry again. Been keeping the humidity up but maybe it needs to go higher to really get it loose. I may give what you said a shot this evening, thank you. My fear with intervening, I think, is that I may have to cull if it doesn’t go well, which I always hate having to do. But letting it sit in the shell till it dies doesn’t sound very kind.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

How long is normal for an external pip to not fully hatch?

One egg pipped yesterday afternoon, and has made tiny bits of progress, but barely noticeable. It's also on the wrong end of the egg.

One more thing-5 chicks hatched yesterday and early this morning, then there's the one that's pipped but no progress. Do you think the other 2 eggs with no external pips will make it? I know it's still early, and I'm probably just not being patient enough, but still!

Since the pip is at the opposite end of the egg you can expect it to take twice as long before it starts to zip because without an air cell at that end of the egg, the chick made both the internal and external pip in one go.
It can be a lot less but a max of 24 hours from internal to external pip, and 24 hours from external pip to zip. Those time-frames are different for an upsidedown pip though. Just keep an eye on it and if you start seeing it repeatedly pecking at the same pip hole but not rotating then I would reevaluate.