Advice on helping a chick!!

[AmyLynn2374]

I
It's been about 3 hours. He's going really slow. Should I just crack the shell along the zip line and let him push himself out?

If he's zipping that long, I'd help it out of there. There is a reason he's progressing that slow. I'd open enough to peek and make sure yolk is absorbed and if it is, I'd get him out.

 

[gioben]

Got

If he's zipping that long, I'd help it out of there. There is a reason he's progressing that slow. I'd open enough to peek and make sure yolk is absorbed and if it is, I'd get him out.

Got him out! He's chirping and looks strong. How long should I keep him in the incubator for?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Got

Got him out! He's chirping and looks strong. How long should I keep him in the incubator for?

That's a personal decision. Many people leave their chicks in until the hatch is over, some leave them in until they are fluffed. I remove mine as they become active. Just make sure your brooder is set and one end is heated for them before you put them in.

 

[shez84]

Following the post as I have 2 eggs under my broody hen, it's day 21 and this morning at 9am one had a bit of shell missing and could hear chirping from both eggs, they have been left under mum all day and now it's 5pm and still no hole in one of the eggs just lots of chirps from in the egg and the other egg just has slightly more she'll missing but membrane still intact, think it's the outer membrane it's thicker and white but starting to go yellowish , still lots of peeps from inside but no zipping
I'm new to hatching , Is the second egg ok with no pip/hole yet even though I can clearly hear chirps?
And will the other egg continue to just make a big hole before zipping and is it ok going yellowish? I don't want it to dry out, they are outside in a coop and it's been lovely and sunny
It has prob been asked loads before but how long before I worry about them either not zipping or not being able to pip out??
I lifted up mum to see egg picture you can see the shell knocked off by baby does it look ok? Worried with the weather being warm and under mum it will get dry?

 

[hillbillyreefer]

I moisten the exposed membranes with a wet q-tip and then sliding the tweezers between the shell and membrane if you can, (it's harder to do at the pointed end where it's more compressed together), and chip just the shell going up the egg. Moisten any membranes you expose. When you moisten the membrane this will also let you see how much veining is left. If there is a lot of veining, especially thick veins, you aren't going to be able to do much because it's not ready. If you hit a vein and cause bleeding, I  hold a wet q-tip against it for a bit to staunch it and then replace it to the bator. If there's still heavy veining I wrap a damp paper towel around the back of the egg and put it back in the bator. If the veining looks about gone,(you can pull the membrane back) continue for 10 minutes or so and replace the baby to rest and warm back up and see if it makes progress on it's own. If it doesn't give it half an hour to an hour and so a little more work repeating this until it's out.

That's how I do it.

Some people use bacitracin/vaseline or non pain relief neosporin spread thinnly over exposed membranes to keep them from drying out as well.

That is fabulous advice, thank you for taking the time to post it.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Following the post as I have 2 eggs under my broody hen, it's day 21 and this morning at 9am one had a bit of shell missing and could hear chirping from both eggs, they have been left under mum all day and now it's 5pm and still no hole in one of the eggs just lots of chirps from in the egg and the other egg just has slightly more she'll missing but membrane still intact, think it's the outer membrane it's thicker and white but starting to go yellowish , still lots of peeps from inside but no zipping
I'm new to hatching , Is the second egg ok with no pip/hole yet even though I can clearly hear chirps?
And will the other egg continue to just make a big hole before zipping and is it ok going yellowish? I don't want it to dry out, they are outside in a coop and it's been lovely and sunny
It has prob been asked loads before but how long before I worry about them either not zipping or not being able to pip out??
I lifted up mum to see egg picture you can see the shell knocked off by baby does it look ok? Worried with the weather being warm and under mum it will get dry?

Cheaping from inside the egg is a sign of internal pip. It can take 24 hours after an internal pip before they externally pip and another 24 to go from external pip to zip.
The pic of the pipped egg looks good. Healthy membrane from what it looks like in the pic. I would leave the hen alone and let her stay on the egg so you're not exposing the membrane to the dry heat of the outside. Good luck!

That is fabulous advice, thank you for taking the time to post it.

You're welcome.

 

[shez84]

Thank you
Well it's now 10pm and just checked on her and can hear loud chirps and under her belly are two lovely chicks , so all seemed fine
I think I worried too much , the weather has been weird here last week was snow and rain and strong winds and this weekend it's been so hot I didn't know what it would be doing to eggs or if would dry them out really quick
But did what I read and left them to it and clever little chicks did it, fingers crossed they will be fine and still survive,
But mummy seems to be doing ok
I was worried because her and her sister my hens I rescued, my frien has a lot of chickens and had a hen hatch a few and 3 of them she attacked and left them with pretty nasty cuts on their heads and wouldn't stop attacking them , so I adopted them and have had them since they were a day old
They are my babies and so friendly , but I don't have any boys, but one of my girls is very broody so we decided to let her try have a few, got some eggs off same friend my girls were from and popped them under and she seems to have really taken to them
Just hope she doesn't turn on them,
Thank you again for your reply and help

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thank you
Well it's now 10pm and just checked on her and can hear loud chirps and under her belly are two lovely chicks , so all seemed fine
I think I worried too much , the weather has been weird here last week was snow and rain and strong winds and this weekend it's been so hot I didn't know what it would be doing to eggs or if would dry them out really quick
But did what I read and left them to it and clever little chicks did it, fingers crossed they will be fine and still survive,
But mummy seems to be doing ok
I was worried because her and her sister my hens I rescued, my frien has a lot of chickens and had a hen hatch a few and 3 of them she attacked and left them with pretty nasty cuts on their heads and wouldn't stop attacking them , so I adopted them and have had them since they were a day old
They are my babies and so friendly , but I don't have any boys, but one of my girls is very broody so we decided to let her try have a few, got some eggs off same friend my girls were from and popped them under and she seems to have really taken to them
Just hope she doesn't turn on them,
Thank you again for your reply and help

Yay!!! Congrats. Hatching itself can make us go nuts worrying, I find broody hatches even more stressfull...lol Many people prefer broodies to incubators, I'm just the opposite. I don't like reliquishing control. First time broodies are especially hard because it's hard to know whether the are going to be good moms or not and sometimes they aren't. My first broody I let sit was wonderfull! My Black Jap Bantam. Couldn't ask for a better momma. My second, my spitzhauben just was not that good. she didn't attack them but 24 hours after hatching she was out in the run in the middle of October in the NY cold. She lost one baby, I never found him or his little body and the other baby was cold and trying to get under her and she was too busy scratching so everytime the chick tried to get under her she'd kick it and it'd go flying. I ended up brooding him inside. So you never can tell till you let them try and see how they do.

 

[shez84]

Both mum and chicks doing great, great mum so far and chicks are up and about exploring with mum , have a little orange/browny one and a grey/white one
Thank you for all your help

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Both mum and chicks doing great, great mum so far and chicks are up and about exploring with mum , have a little orange/browny one and a grey/white one
Thank you for all your help