Beginner's Hatch-A-Long

[SA Farm]

I built a little fence out of hardware cloth and put the unhatched/unpipped eggs in there so they wouldn't get gooified and knocked around. It worked great.
I got a total of 9 chicks out of 17 eggs. Two died (drowned in egg, I think) and the rest were infertile/didn't develop.

 

[ivyrash]

I posted this in a thread of it's own but no one has answered so I thought I would see what you guys think. I have a bunch of bantam cochin eggs and out of the 15 I locked down, three have hatched, a couple of them have been pipped a long time with dried brown membranes around the pip. The chicks are still alive and I have been moistening the membranes and waiting but I'm not sure how long to wait or what else to do. I hate to let these die but don't want to jump the gun either. As it is, it's not looking like any of the other cochins will be hatching so this is it. These did not pip in the air sack so I'm guessing they are malpositioned, what should I do now?

 

[Alaskan]

Blach! I don't like the little red veins either.


How long have they been sitting there?

Of course, this thread says you posted over an hour ago.

I would be tempted to get some tweezers and pull/rip back a bit of the membrane so more of the beak is out.

Watch for any red capillaries, don't rip there, and go slow. I would keep going so that the entire beak was out so I knew the chick was breathing, en leave it for a few hours wrapped in a damp paper towel in a high humidity incubator. Do make sure there is no water right over the beak, don't want to drown it.

The problem is that the wiggling and hard work that the chick does is also what gets the blood to dry up and the belly to close up.

After I could see the beak, and I knew it was breathing, I would leave it alone for 12 hours (not eating and drinking but cramped in a shell is just fine really). Then after 12 hours I would reevaluate.

Good luck!

 

[ivyrash]

Blach! I don't like the little red veins either.


How long have they been sitting there?

Of course, this thread says you posted over an hour ago.

I would be tempted to get some tweezers and pull/rip back a bit of the membrane so more of the beak is out.

Watch for any red capillaries, don't rip there, and go slow. I would keep going so that the entire beak was out so I knew the chick was breathing, en leave it for a few hours wrapped in a damp paper towel in a high humidity incubator. Do make sure there is no water right over the beak, don't want to drown it.

The problem is that the wiggling and hard work that the chick does is also what gets the blood to dry up and the belly to close up.

After I could see the beak, and I knew it was breathing, I would leave it alone for 12 hours (not eating and drinking but cramped in a shell is just fine really). Then after 12 hours I would reevaluate.

Good luck!

I have four like that and they are all still alive and in the incubator in a damp paper towel we will see what the morning brings. The one in the pic has been that way the longest, since this morning, it was pipped yesterday I believe.

 

[Alaskan]

I am so sorry for you! Very frustrating.

Tell me how it goes.

Are all four malpositioned?

*hugs*. Stressful, I know.

 

[ivyrash]

None of them are pipped through the air sack, they were shipped eggs so I sort of anticipated some trouble. With any luck some of them will be out in the morning. I have to work tomorrow so I guess if they are still alive when I get home from work and they haven't made any more progress I will try to get them going then, you would think that would be plenty of time.

 

[ivyrash]

Thanks for the support! It makes me feel better having someone to help us along. My husband is not much good for that where the animals are concerned.

I'm off to bed, have a good night.

 

[SA Farm]

I had a few dry out and the inner membrane was nearly dried to the chick. They all pipped at the right end and when they made no progress in a day, I pulled off the shell and membrane and wrapped in a damp paper towel. A few of them pushed right out once they were free to, another one took another day to push itself out. All are fine and fluffy a week later. As long as they are in the egg long enough to absorb the yolk, I think it's better to help them than risk drowning. One of my babies had started to zip, so I left it and one of the hatchlings knocked it over and it drowned.
I think the ones I helped were okay since they struggled long enough to gain strength and dry up the blood.

 

[BeccaBeeOly]

They arrived yesterday! Set 9 Ameraucana eggs. Only 2 were fertile... Both hatched! I haven't seen them yet as we were gone and they spent "lockdown" and hatched at a friends.Drove me crazy not to be there, but glad his 5 year old got to see the fun part A very easy process in the Brinsea mini eco! Yeah!

 

[Alaskan]

I had a few dry out and the inner membrane was nearly dried to the chick. They all pipped at the right end and when they made no progress in a day, I pulled off the shell and membrane and wrapped in a damp paper towel. A few of them pushed right out once they were free to, another one took another day to push itself out. All are fine and fluffy a week later. As long as they are in the egg long enough to absorb the yolk, I think it's better to help them than risk drowning. One of my babies had started to zip, so I left it and one of the hatchlings knocked it over and it drowned.
I think the ones I helped were okay since they struggled long enough to gain strength and dry up the blood. 

Yep....I agree, that is the important part.