Bleeding while trying to hatch- opinions desired.

[Sphinx]

I honestly have no idea what to do.

We are just about at the end of day 21, and all of my other chicks have hatched.

The last chick pipped 36 hours ago, and hasn't made much progress.

About 26 hours after pip, I peeled back some of the shell. Membrane seemed ok, so I started to cut that away, but a drop of blood emerged, so I immediately stopped and put egg back in incubator.

Four hours later, I thought I'd try cutting the membrane again, as she hadn't made any progress. Again, got a drop of blood, so I stopped and put her back in the incubator and vowed not to touch her again.

In the last hour or so, she evidently tried to cut away the membrane herself, and got more blood, maybe 3-4 drops.

I am worried that she may be too weak to get out due to extended hatching time AND the loss of blood, but I'm scared to mess with the membrane anymore, since there's blood.

What in the world do I do (if anything)?



(as a side note, chick cam is live and is pointed to this egg if you want a visual.)

 

[mandelyn]

What is your humidity at if you have that monitored? You may need to use your finger to dab on warm water on the membrane to keep it soft. The chick is late on absorbing blood, which means the yolk hasn't finished absorbing yet either, you don't want it out of the egg yet. The odds of survival are much better if the chick can finishing closing up it's belly while still in the shell.

Just keep watch or go to bed and check in the morning. This far in will have the chick taking a lot of breaks to nap.

If it isn't out by morning I would help it, the blood should have receded by then. Just work slow to be sure.

Some blood is normal. An actual bleed means you need to wait it out longer.

 

[Sphinx]

Peer pressure made me help it out already. LOL

There was a teensy bit of yolk to be absorbed, but I do feel she's better off out- I think she was rapidly losing strength, and was fading.

Thanks for responding though, everyone here is such a life saver.