Chick hatched but there’s blood??

[sunsetridge]

We have had a chicken sitting on eggs for a few weeks and they are now hatching. She kept one chick and stopped sitting on all the other eggs so we have brought them in under a heat lamp. They are doing well now, except for one. He was the coldest but perked up a little after under the warmth however he was struggling to get out of his shell (we expected this as he was quite cold and lethargic). My mum helped him get out of half of his shell and we are letting him do the rest. We noticed there was some bloody veins in the membrane which is why we intervened. He is still alive and warm just not trying to hatch the rest of the shell. Should we not have helped him? Is he going to die now that we have removed some of his shell. P.S. he is not bleeding, it is the membrane around him and it is not bleeding it’s just blood. Picture of him attached

 

[Lizzy733]

With chick hatching, having some type of styptic powder on hand is a very good safety net for bleeding. I used bentonite clay in my last hatch and did have to dab a few navels.

One chick, which was an assist as it had a combination of malpositions and a lot of albumen seeping from the pip lost maybe a half teaspoon or so cause I didn't have enough q-tips handy to apply the styptic powder at it's navel. Still turned out fine in the end and is happily running around the brooder as we speak.

Hatching can be drought with all sorts of danger. If they're under a broody, I check in from time to time, but it's easier to let her handle things. A broody is not above chipping a bit if she'll away herself to encourage her babies along. I don't generally intervene until everyone else is out. But trickier not to do so when you're playing momma hen.

Sometimes, they can rush their own hatch and end up rupturing a blood vessel, sometimes it's the hen when she tries to assist and sometimes it's you.. it happens. Sometimes they'll have congenital issues and pass away despite managing to hatch without assistance.

The old saying 'don't count your chickens before they hatch couldn't be truer words of wisdom.'

All you can do is be prepared with knowledge and materials to assist. A big portion of it is out if your hands, but you'll get better and be more prepared for next time.

Every loss, avoidable or not, is always a lesson for improvement.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Thank you! How much blood would there be if that happened? We just watched another chick hatch and there looks to be the same amount of blood (this one was entirely unassisted) and the one that was struggling is trying to push his way out now. Could he just be very tired? When we went to bring them in he wasn’t moving at all but the heat has really made a difference. Within minutes he was breathing and chirping

I'm guessing the chicks didn't pip through the air cell, therefore bursting the blood vessel.
Do not do anything. Chicks can take 24hours to go from pipped to hatch. They can take even longer if they skipped a step and didn't pip into the air sac. Usually they break into the air sac first and rest for about a day absorbing some yolk before they break the shell and then they finish absorbing the yolk and all the blood in the vessels across the membrane before they hatch. Some chicks do this quickly but some can take 48hrs from the time they start hatching (break the membrane which is normally not visible except those few that miss the air sac) until they get out of the egg. Hurrying them along will only cause them to lose all that blood they need to absorb and they will die. It will also risk drying out the membranes for the rest and they will die.

 

[Silkie Princess]

@Lizzy733

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Seems like you burst a blood vessel whilst assisting

 

[sunsetridge]

I'm guessing the chicks didn't pip through the air cell, therefore bursting the blood vessel.
Do not do anything. Chicks can take 24hours to go from pipped to hatch. They can take even longer if they skipped a step and didn't pip into the air sac. Usually they break into the air sac first and rest for about a day absorbing some yolk before they break the shell and then they finish absorbing the yolk and all the blood in the vessels across the membrane before they hatch. Some chicks do this quickly but some can take 48hrs from the time they start hatching (break the membrane which is normally not visible except those few that miss the air sac) until they get out of the egg. Hurrying them along will only cause them to lose all that blood they need to absorb and they will die. It will also risk drying out the membranes for the rest and they will die.

Thank you, unfortunately she didn’t survive but she did get herself out of her shell completely which is good. In the time of her hatching, 2 other chicks hatched. A tortoiseshell (I don’t know if that is what they’re called??) and another yellow/white one. We have never even had a tortoiseshell chicken before! Was a shock to see it lol

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Thank you, unfortunately she didn’t survive but she did get herself out of her shell completely which is good. In the time of her hatching, 2 other chicks hatched. A tortoiseshell (I don’t know if that is what they’re called??) and another yellow/white one. We have never even had a tortoiseshell chicken before! Was a shock to see it lol

Sorry that she died But I'm glad taht you got some chicks, and some pretty colours

 

[TheCluckyClucker2]

Did you have chick pics? How are they now?

 

[sunsetridge]

Did you have chick pics? How are they now?

Yes! We ended up with 5 chicks from those eggs! All but one happen to be frizzles (we only have frizzle roosters so makes sense) and have since had more chicks hatch from an accident where we forgot to collect the eggs for a while and then were too far into the three week period haha, there is a black one (not a frizzle!) this is 4/5 from the batch from this thread! The other one was an egg gifted to our neighbour as they had a clucky chook

 

[sunsetridge]

Seems like you burst a blood vessel whilst assisting

Thank you! How much blood would there be if that happened? We just watched another chick hatch and there looks to be the same amount of blood (this one was entirely unassisted) and the one that was struggling is trying to push his way out now. Could he just be very tired? When we went to bring them in he wasn’t moving at all but the heat has really made a difference. Within minutes he was breathing and chirping