Forgot to add the picture, duh This egg is on day 22 and it hasnt progressed since yesterday. Still under broody. Can someone take a look and tell if it is positioned right? Dont know what to do. Thanks
If you can still hear it peeping or pecking or a rapid heartbeat when you put the egg up to your ear, it's alive. If alive, I would very gently remove small pieces of shell with tweezers, leaving the membrane intact if possible. Remove enough that you can see the beak or part of the head. If the membranes are not bloody, you can slowly try to help it out, tiny pieces at a time. If a chick of mine zips around and is pushing and peeping, I open the rest of the egg for them. You won't know if it became shrink wrapped until you can see a good bit inside. If alive, there are some posts on how to rehydrate them safely, but I think most are dead by the time it is apparent. Even if you hear nothing, and it is dead, you may learn something by opening the shell and examining the chick. Good luck!
Thanks Dr. Mary, Boy what an ordeal. I did not get your post in time but this is what happened. At 10:30 last night I still did not know what to do so I made an executive decision, I got a flashlight and went down to the coop. There was no one awake to help me and I really felt like this little one was not going to make it out of the shell alive after trying to hatch for way over 24 hours. I was shaking and trying to hold onto the flashlight and the egg at the same time.Let me just add right here a little side note, Yesterday afternoon I was at home depot looking at wood and this huge shelf fell on my toe. No one touched it, it just fell. I did not know until today that I broke my toe. I am fifty nine years old and never broke a bone. But more on that later, back to the story. Don't ask me how I did this! Feels like something just took over and guided my hands. I knew it was still breathing because I could see the body contracting and expanding. . I could not see the beak and I could not figure out which part of the body I was looking at. So I proceeded very slowly and started breaking off little pieces of the shell. Every time a piece would come off the chick would move real good so I knew it had some life left in it. I put it back under mama and let it rest for about an hour or two. Then I went back down and took a small little dish of warm water and some q-tips. I slowly broke off a bit more shell and I could see the chick struggling to try and come out. I took a little water and used the q-tip to apply it to the chicks membrane. I did this a few times. That did the trick! That little chick gave a huge push and half of its body came out of the shell! Wow I feel so blessed to be able to feel and witness that in my hands. I am still excited about it. But I also knew this was not over yet. I thought maybe the chick was weak and would not live overnight, but I decided to put her back under mama and said a prayer. Went to check in the morning right before hobbling into work and was running very late so I did not have time to lift up Pancake and see what happened. To tell you the truth I was very worried I was going to find a dead chick under her. I have made the mistake before of putting weak chicks under mama and it has never turned out good. Went to work, boss said I needed to go to the Dr. Just got back and guess what? A perfectly cute little yellow fluff ball was chirping away!!! Sorry this post is so long but I really feel like this may help someone out there if they run into something like this. Remember the egg was not pipped, just cracked , so that is why I felt there was a problem. Ok, enough for now. Stay tuned for pictures and maybe someone can help me think of an appropriate name for this special little one. Love happy endings... Marie
