Chick due date but egg looks odd when candled

[countrychix]

I have 2 eggs that were set to hatch today. The first chick has externally pipped but the 2nd egg looks very odd. It hasn't looked right for the past 4-5 days or so and I thought that the embryo had died but I finally saw it move tonight and definitely heard it chirping. The air cell has looked huge for a while despite humidity around 40 percent (it had been higher before as I am incubating and hatching in the same incubator at once.) Now the air cell is even larger filling nearly half the egg, I can clearly see huge veins but barely see the chick; it is chirping loudly and it is not in the air cell. Anyone have any ideas of what is going on?

 

[lazy gardener]

If you are positive that it is not in the air cell, but it is chirping, what you have is a malposition. With such a large air cell, I'm guessing it is dry in there, and the chick has not been able to maneuver into position. I had one chick that I assisted. Her wing was glued over her beak. No way she could work with that! Are you positive this chick has passed day 21? Give it a while longer. It may still pip successfully. It may do some resting before it attempts to pip. so, if it goes silent for a bit, I wouldn't hit the panic button just yet. The time to hit the panic button is if the chick continues to chirp without pipping, and the chirping gets weaker. You could very carefully make a small air hole in the air-cell space. You're going to need to keep the humidity up high for this little one. I'd aim for 75%. Read the details about assisted hatch in Hatching 101. The fact that you're seeing blood vessels says it's not ready to hatch yet. I prefer not to assist until close to 24 hours after pip. (in this case, internal pip) That gives plenty of time for blood vessels to dry up. Your choice to either assist or not. You may assist and end up with an other healthy chick, or you may assist and the chick will die, or need to be culled. If you don't assist, the chick may hatch naturally and will be ok or not. If you don't assist... the chick may die in shell. It's basically a crap shoot! and you have to trust your judgement.

 

[countrychix]

Thanks Lazy Gardener, the chick was mal-positioned and unable to hatch on it's own. (S)he was very weak when I removed her from the shell, at one point she had pecked through a vein, but she is doing much better now. I'm hoping she's a splash, looks like she might be, while it looks like her sibling is a blue...yay on both counts.

 

[lazy gardener]

I hope she gains her strength. Having pecked a vein, she's at big risk, as she is likely to be anemic. I recommend sugar water and/or electrolytes, and Poultry Nutri-drench. She's also going to be at increased risk of aspiration. Nutridrench can be given full strength. i put a drop on my finger, and wipe it on the side of the chick's beak. She'll suck in enough to ge t her started, but not enough to aspirate. You can put it in the water, but be sure to change the water every day. As soon as she's dry, you can move her into the brooder, and put out feed and water. Be sure that she can't fall into her water!