Broody has broken egg open and chick inside is breathing

[Ksw15]

Help!! My broody hen has broken open one of her eggs, at first I assumed the chick was dead as she wasn’t sitting on it but when I looked more closely it is breathing. I quickly moved it under a heat lamp, it was cold to touch. It has been under heat for a few hours. Still breathing. Occasionally opening its eyes and chirping. Opening and closing mouth. The blood was obviously not fully absorbed yet but it also wasn’t bloody on the shavings underneath where it was broken. I have read other threads on this page and have followed advice to ‘wet’ the membrane with a soft paintbrush and coconut oil. I can still see some veins. Attaching photo this is exactly how everything looks, like I said the shavings underneath were clean. It is inside now in this picture under the heat lamp.
Please I urgently need any extra advice you can give! I’ve never hatched eggs under a heat lamp let alone like this. Is there any hope for this chick? I’m sure it should ideally be in an incubator but I don’t have one. It is luckily almost summer and we live in the subtropics. Humidity is high today with rain. I know none of this is ideal but it’s what I’m working with.

 

[Ksw15]

She is up walking around more now, still looking very drunk though. She try to preen herself and it throws her off balance. She’s still improving for now so I’m remaining positive.

You should expect a newly hatched chick to be up any running around in a day or so.
They rest/sleep a lot the first day.

 

[Ksw15]

So an update for anyone following along, Hope is a different chicken the last two hours. She is super alert, eyes open, finding her balance, preening, I have been playing a game with her with the eye dropper of water where I hold it infront of her and let the water drop hang and as it falls she catches it in her mouth. I’m doing it over her foot so if it drops she then follows down after it and had a little explore of her food. She is chatting with the chicks in the other brooder and since it’s now dark her she started crying out when I left the room with my flashlight but now that I’m back in she’s happy and wants to play again. She was even having a little explore of her box, picking up shavings and flicking them around and pecking at a little mark that is on one side of the box.
Her feathers are continuing to fluff up more, they are a bit sparse and sit all crazy. I am really hopeful for her tonight. I’m just hoping she doesn’t have any genetic/internal stuff that I don’t know about.
She is 100% better today that she was yesterday and 200% better than hatch day. So hopefully tomorrow she continues to thrive!
Thank you all so much for your support. X
Will continue to update until hopefully it gets boring!

 

[Ksw15]

A picture of hope and her Silkie friend

 

[Ksw15]

I’ve named her hope. She’s still alive 9 hours in.. I know odds are against her but I so desperately hope she lives

 

[Ksw15]

So this is my most recent picture of her. She was one of three remaining eggs so when I found her and put her under the heat lamp I just pulled the others out and put them there too because I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away if there was other fully formed babies maybe inside. I probably should at this stage, I have just been so focused on Hope and the others I’ve ignored them. Last thing I’d need is more special needs chicks half hatching out of them in poor conditions though. But that explains the egg in this photo.
This is her good side, the other side of her head is still not fluffy and needs a wash I think.

 

[Ksw15]

Everyone does things differently.
Yes. A chick has absorbed yolk that they can rely on for about 3 days, but this chick is under a heat lamp and moving about.
The faster you get her drinking and eating, the better imho. As soon as mine hatch and are dry, they are in the brooder eating/drinking. That may be within just a few hours of hatch or could be up to 24 hours.

Anyway. Chicks tilting the head back to drink can be common in the first few days.
I would still get vitamins into her. Dip a qtip in the vitamin water, then press a drop onto her beak, let her take it in.

You aren't out of the woods yet, but it's hopeful.

Okay so she seemed to be up all night (need to get a ceramic lamp bulb today so it’s dark for her at night I’m guessing) so she I sleeping this morning but she was up for a bit, walking drunk but definitely standing and walking pretty well on her legs. Don’t think I’ll have problems there. I did pick her up and dip her beak in the water and she seemed less shocked about having to swallow. I then put her down and with her eyes closed and stumbling about she did it 2 maybe 3 more times by herself, dipped her beak and swallowed. Don’t know how much water she got but I have hope she now knows what to do. I’ve seen her pecking at her food too but don’t know if she actually eats it. She is pooping though so I guess that’s positive.
Her feathers look better this morning than last night. They are pretty crazy and not very neat so she’s not the same as normal chicks but I’m hoping it’s just a hairstyle and that she can overcome any other preemie health things with time and nurturing.

 

[Ksw15]

Sounds like she has imprinted on you as mama hen . That is why she cries out for you, chicks do that when mama gets out of sight.

So because she seemed sad last night to be alone I had my husband build a little divider for the brooder and we need up turning the light on, getting everyone up for an hour and moving her over. Everyone calmed down and was really calm and sweet, she finally relaxed and went to sleep, one of the other chicks came and slept next to her through the divider. I think this will be really good for her today bad hopefully they can show her how to eat and drink. I’ve made sure the water and feed setup is identical. She is still really Into our water dropper game this morning so she’s had a bit to drink of the vitamin water so I’m happy about that. She is standing well and looking more like a normal day old today. Her balance is much improved again even since last night, preening , still falling asleep standing up sometimes but she has improved in general so the progress continues. The week old chicks look so huge next to her. I think she’s the cutest scruffiest little chick I’ve ever seen.

 

[Ksw15]

How is Hope doing? ^^

Hope is still doing well, I didn’t worry about her at all yesterday. Woke up this morning to a pasty butt though so just cleaned that off and now am worried she could have gotten a chill. I only had her out for maybe two minutes but had to soak her bottom to get it off. I towel dried her off and put her back under the heat lamp with slightly damp bottom feathers. I’ve just been googling this for the last half hour and wondering if I should have gotten out the hair dryer. It’s 95 under her heat lamp and the air temp is probably about 85. She’s up running around drinking with the others so hoping that means she’s happy enough. She looks dry again now that I’m looking at her.
Other than that, she’s doing great, catching up in size to the others, there are two silkies in with her so she is as big as them even though they are a week older. I can tell she’s made friends with one of them. All the chicks cry at bed time until I come and sing them a song and then they all pile up as close as they can get to my side of the cage and stare at me singing until they fall asleep. They all let me put my hand in and give them little scratches this morning without running away. I think I’m their mama.

How is Hope doing? ^^

 

[Ksw15]

It is midnight now and I’ve just come out to find the chick has broke away from its shell and membrane completely now. One bit of relief. No visible open wounds, abdomen looks fine too. but it’s one leg is splayed out behind it. Could it be broken? It was kind of laying like this while hatching. Does it just need time to learn where it’s legs go or is this going to need intervention from the sounds of it. Like I said earlier I have never even hatched a chick in an incubator only under a broody so I’ve only really seen them once dried. I don’t know if this chick is a lost cause or if this is how they can look when hatching and wet if you know what I mean. How soon should they be able to stand and walk around after hatching? Thank you all so much for your help. I don’t think I could put her out of her misery, not when she’s fighting this hard. I understand the whole nature ha it way thing but I’m also not sure the mother hen just didn’t know what to do now and was maybe freaking out when the eggs would chirp because like I said, this was the third mostly formed dead chick I have found. But this one just was found in the nick of time.
I am still praying for this chick and not ready to give up yet. I know she still has a fight ahead of her though.