Came home to a mess..help?

[newbaker89]

I have had 8 hatch and before leaving about 5:30 noticed another nice external pip that was underside. I have 2 still fluffing in the incubator, but one in particular that I knew would be ready to move to the brooder tonight. I returned home at 10:30 to check and saw that my piped egg was being pretty savagely assisted by the lively chick. I immediately removed the naughty chick as quickly as possible; however, I am not sure what to think about this egg. It's still breathing, peeping, but not very much movement and I actually saw the naughty chick pecking at its entirety. Not just shell. I see blood and the chick also seems positioned strange to me. Any advice??????

 

[WalnutHill]

It seems like the helpful sibling did not do too much damage. The blood looks like it is from the membrane blood vessels and looks like it has stopped flowing. How is the chick's breathing?

I don't believe the chick is fully ready to hatch, and rushing it into the world may prevent proper yolk absorption. As long as the humidity is up in the incubator, I'd leave it to rest and try to let it finish the hatch on its own. If, however, there are signs of distress such as gasping, crying, or struggling without progress, I'd work at the large end of the egg to make some more space for the youngster. And if the membrane blood vessels have fully retracted, I'd probably pull the membrane back at the big end and help guide the head out.

 

[newbaker89]

It seems like the helpful sibling did not do too much damage.  The blood looks like it is from the membrane blood vessels and looks like it has stopped flowing.  How is the chick's breathing?

I don't believe the chick is fully ready to hatch, and rushing it into the world may prevent proper yolk absorption.  As long as the humidity is up in the incubator, I'd leave it to rest and try to let it finish the hatch on its own.  If, however, there are signs of distress such as gasping, crying, or struggling without progress, I'd work at the large end of the egg to make some more space for the youngster.  And if the membrane blood vessels have fully retracted, I'd probably pull the membrane back at the big end and help guide the head out.

Thanks for your advice. That's what I'm doing for now. The breathing seems pretty normal so far. I've already had to assist a hatch in this batch so far because of the feet in the wrong place (it's ok, yay!) and I suppose I'm nervous I might have to again. We did lose one from waiting too long in this batch as well.

 

[WalnutHill]

How's the chick?

 

[newbaker89]

How's the chick?

Not very well. It ended up needing assistance. It was stuck to its shell like super glue which I have never experienced before. I had to use warm water to seperate it from the membrane. That was the only way and ever since it hatched, it sounds lively and peeps a bit, but cannot hold its head up. And it's feathers are still super hard from whatever had it glued down so it's still not fluffy. I'm not sure what happened or what would help.

 

[WalnutHill]

I had that happen to one turkey poult last year. It failed to thrive, and died after couple of days despite extra attention. I hope yours does better.