Can you tell me what went wrong?

[evilcitty]

I had 4 black silkie eggs which I incubated successfully. Three hatched day 20, one early morning day 21. The forth was last to pip and didn't til morning day 21 when the third hatched. It made it think a small attempt at zipping some hours later in the afternoon where it enlarged the hole a bit.
I left him to it and kept the humidity up. I checked on him in the evening and he wasn't any further along but peeping occasionally. I picked a bit of shell away but I could see blood vessels in the membrane so I moistened around the hole (careful to avoid his nostrils) and left him to it. I checked on humidity, keeping it high and before bed just now I checked again. My heart sank when I saw he wasn't peeping at all and when I touched his beak he was unresponsive. I peeled back a little shell to reveal his eye which when I touched around it, was also unresponsive. There were still blood vessels clearly there but I couldn't get a response at all so I assumed he was dying or dead... so I removed the shell as he was obviously going or gone? The membrane had alot of blood vessels in it, he bled
and he had a small blob of unabsorbed yolk on his belly. He was completely limp but did twitch one last time before he was definately gone.

What did I do wrong for this chick? It seemed strong enough and was very vocal before.
Could I/should I have helped earlier even though there were many blood vessels?
What can I do in the future?

This is horrible. I never want this to happen again. :'( I feel absolutely awful.

 

[sourland]

You did nothing wrong. My gut tells me that the chick had some sort of congenital problem. If 3 hatched normally and one had delayed development, I'm thinking the problem was in the chick.

 

[evilcitty]

Thanks alot for your reply. This is my first hatch and I have tried my best, but as you all say, it's a learning curve. Are these problems common? Will I lose alot of chicks like this?

 

[sourland]

75% hatch rate is pretty good. Be proud of what you have accomplished. There is a great variability in the hatchability of eggs. There are breed to breed, strain to strain, and individual variations in vigor/hatchability. In my experience the factor having the greatest negative impact on hatchability is excessive inbreeding. Many 'help' weak chicks hatch when in effect they are promoting survival of less vigorous birds. The choice is up to the individual. We all try to do what we feel we must do. Good luck on raising your chicks.

 

[evilcitty]

Thanks alot for your help and info! Really appreciated. I feel alot better about this now..

 

[Sally Sunshine]

75% hatch rate is pretty good. Be proud of what you have accomplished. There is a great variability in the hatchability of eggs. There are breed to breed, strain to strain, and individual variations in vigor/hatchability. In my experience the factor having the greatest negative impact on hatchability is excessive inbreeding. Many 'help' weak chicks hatch when in effect they are promoting survival of less vigorous birds. The choice is up to the individual. We all try to do what we feel we must do. Good luck on raising your chicks.

X2 well said Sourland!

I have all my notes on helping and a ton of info in an article, your welcome to study up some more when your ready again! You did a GREAT JOB!!! just scroll down in the article until you see day 18 lockdown and there is a ton of info for ya!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

the article is basically a summary of thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/704328/diary-notes-air-cell-detatched-shipped-eggs and your welcome to come join a few of us, there are several younger kiddos on there that hatch and I would love to keep the thread alive to help them, its nice when someone is there for you when you need them!! come and say hello!!