- Jun 28, 2011
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This is a bit a how-to/suggestion for those who may have to deal with what I did 12 days ago with a batch of shipped eggs. I wasn't able to incubate most of the eggs upright, due to severe lack of headroom on my incubator, and had about 10 eggs with HUGE saddle shaped air cells when hatch day rolled round. I waited out day 21 and heard one chick working on pipping. The rest were quiet. By the evening I decided to make breathing holes for them all and made a tiny hole in each egg, well above the air cell line, before leaving them for the morning.
I now wish I opened the eggs more to investigate. I lost the little pipper overnight.
In the morning of day 22 I decided to open the air cell end further and see what is going on inside, as only one pipped and on the wrong side of the egg. What I found was every single chick malpositioned and completely unable to pip through the shells. Some of them appeared unable to break through the membrane and pip internally as well.
I did what I could at the time and a first for me, I wet the membranes covering the chicks, looked for beaks and made a small slit in each membrane and freed the beaks, so they can breathe. A few of the chicks had their heads wedged in-between their legs and wings so tight that they were completely unable to move, never mind pip. I was honestly surprised to find them alive and o.k. in there, considering how little space they had! (The air cells took up more than 1/3 of the eggs for some) I cleared only enough of the membranes to allow them to breathe easily and left them for a few hours before starting assisting. They were only ready to hatch very late that evening. I realised as I eventually freed them that by going in and internally pipping for them, I probably saved their lives.
It's a nerve wrecking way to hatch, even I, who have hatched many chicks and assisted quite a few of them, were about done by the end of the day, but I managed to get 5 live chicks out of there. Another 2 passed after completing the hatch and the rest were already gone by the time I opened the eggs.
At the time I didn't think of taking pics, I was too focussed on helping them, but I did get this one, taken after I freed the chick's foot and wing, both of which were folded over its head:
And here are my 5 little survivors, 8 days on, happy and doing great.
Bottom line is, if you are dealing with big saddle shape air cells and hatch day comes along, don't be afraid to go in there and see if the chicks need help piping internally. Those air cells would've been a death sentence for these guys if I didn't help and I'm SO glad now that I did! I only wish I did this a few hours sooner.
I now wish I opened the eggs more to investigate. I lost the little pipper overnight.
In the morning of day 22 I decided to open the air cell end further and see what is going on inside, as only one pipped and on the wrong side of the egg. What I found was every single chick malpositioned and completely unable to pip through the shells. Some of them appeared unable to break through the membrane and pip internally as well.
I did what I could at the time and a first for me, I wet the membranes covering the chicks, looked for beaks and made a small slit in each membrane and freed the beaks, so they can breathe. A few of the chicks had their heads wedged in-between their legs and wings so tight that they were completely unable to move, never mind pip. I was honestly surprised to find them alive and o.k. in there, considering how little space they had! (The air cells took up more than 1/3 of the eggs for some) I cleared only enough of the membranes to allow them to breathe easily and left them for a few hours before starting assisting. They were only ready to hatch very late that evening. I realised as I eventually freed them that by going in and internally pipping for them, I probably saved their lives.
It's a nerve wrecking way to hatch, even I, who have hatched many chicks and assisted quite a few of them, were about done by the end of the day, but I managed to get 5 live chicks out of there. Another 2 passed after completing the hatch and the rest were already gone by the time I opened the eggs.
At the time I didn't think of taking pics, I was too focussed on helping them, but I did get this one, taken after I freed the chick's foot and wing, both of which were folded over its head:
And here are my 5 little survivors, 8 days on, happy and doing great.
Bottom line is, if you are dealing with big saddle shape air cells and hatch day comes along, don't be afraid to go in there and see if the chicks need help piping internally. Those air cells would've been a death sentence for these guys if I didn't help and I'm SO glad now that I did! I only wish I did this a few hours sooner.
Congratulations!
