Breech chick?

[beckster01]

I am philosophically a "do not disturb the natural process" kind of girl when it comes to hatching. I've also only hatched from broodies one time before.

This chick pipped yesterday (so only at it about 16 hours I'd say). When I checked today, I see it's little foot sticking out! So, is this breech? When I first checked it was peeping quite a bit, so I know it is probably ok right now, but I don't know how it is going to make it out of its shell.

If you need me to get better pictures to see it's positioning, I'm going to have to fight with momma. I don't know if you can tell from this video but she is a mean momma and I might shed blood trying to get that baby from her. But I also would very much like the baby to survive and will make the sacrifice if needed

Fun fact, that momma was one of the chicks that was naturally brooded 2 years ago! She's never been a people chicken

 

[beckster01]

So I have been reading all morning and read that if the membrane is dry, the chick might need help. I pulled the chick out and was able to peel the shell off everything but the abdomen (I didn't try to peel that part up, figured it would come off on its own when ready). The chick's beak was pipped out on the unopened side of the shell, and everything else was trapped except for one foot.

So good news is the chick is loud and that left foot is very active, but it didn't uncurl its neck or other leg. I put it back under Mama and we will see what happens... Hopefully it just needs to stretch out a little bit but I'm afraid the positioning it was in, it wasn't able to move its neck or right foot at all during hatching.