Chick pipped 30+ hours ago

[sahmoffour]

This is my first hatch, I have 34 eggs in a Hovabator 1588. Today is day 20. My first chick pipped a fairly large (maybe dime sized?) hole that I noticed yesterday morning when I first woke up. So it pipped at least 30 hours ago, possibly up to 36 hours depending on when it pipped during the night. It's still alive, seems to be a bit less active than it was yesterday though. I have 2 other chicks that have successfully hatched that are still in the brooder, and 5 other eggs that have pipped last night or this morning. My temp is around 99.5, the humidity is at 62% (I don't have a second hygrometer, this is the reading off the brooder.)

Am I correct that there's not much I can do for this one that hasn't been able to hatch? I feel horrible and am dying to pull him out to help him quickly as it seems like he's not as active anymore so I'm worried he's dying. Will I risk the other pipped eggs though if I open it?

 

[red horse ranch]

This is my first hatch, I have 34 eggs in a Hovabator 1588. Today is day 20. My first chick pipped a fairly large (maybe dime sized?) hole that I noticed yesterday morning when I first woke up. So it pipped at least 30 hours ago, possibly up to 36 hours depending on when it pipped during the night. It's still alive, seems to be a bit less active than it was yesterday though. I have 2 other chicks that have successfully hatched that are still in the brooder, and 5 other eggs that have pipped last night or this morning. My temp is around 99.5, the humidity is at 62% (I don't have a second hygrometer, this is the reading off the brooder.)

Am I correct that there's not much I can do for this one that hasn't been able to hatch? I feel horrible and am dying to pull him out to help him quickly as it seems like he's not as active anymore so I'm worried he's dying. Will I risk the other pipped eggs though if I open it?

Yes, there is a danger of the other pipped eggs becoming shrink wrapped if the humidity drops. It sounds like the 30 hour pipped egg may be having trouble.
This is always the hardest decision for me. I know the egg should be helped and I've done it many times. Most times with good results but sometimes the chick died in the process anyway. Is it worth the risk to the others? I walked the floor many times trying to decide.

Your temp and humidity sounds good.

 

[sahmoffour]

The little guy still isn't out… coming up on a minimum of 36 hours now, possibly as many as 42 depending on when in the night he hatched. I have 14 other pips now though, so I'm scared to open the lid to try to help him! He's still alive but definitely seems to be moving less and less.

 

[red horse ranch]

The little guy still isn't out… coming up on a minimum of 36 hours now, possibly as many as 42 depending on when in the night he hatched. I have 14 other pips now though, so I'm scared to open the lid to try to help him! He's still alive but definitely seems to be moving less and less.

He's evidently stuck to the shell. In cases like this I will put wet towels around the incubator and have a spray bottle of water handy. Very quickly, open the lid just barely enough to grab the egg. Once the egg is out lift the lid again just enough to shoot a spray of water inside the incubator trying not to get too much on the eggs. I have a gooseneck lamp with a 40 watt bulb and I will lay the egg on a washcloth under the light. Very slowly and carefully take off the top half of the shell. But STOP at the first sign of fresh blood and put the egg back in the incubator.
It's important that the baby kick it's way out of the shell on it's own. It the chick pushes out okay then put it in your brooder under the heat lamp to dry. It's important that it doesn't get chilled while it is wet.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[sahmoffour]

Okay, so last night I unzipped for the little guy, leaving the membrane intact, hoping that he would make be able to push himself the rest of the way out on his own by this morning. He was still in the same position as I left him last night, but still alive, so I just finished taking the top off and peeling the membrane back for him. I put him back in the incubator so he can try to push himself the rest of the way out, but so far, the chick is just laying there. I don't know if it has the energy left to push out, it doesn't seem like it's moving around much anymore. Is there ever a time where you help a chick completely hatch, or is this guy just not going to make it?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[red horse ranch]

Okay, so last night I unzipped for the little guy, leaving the membrane intact, hoping that he would make be able to push himself the rest of the way out on his own by this morning. He was still in the same position as I left him last night, but still alive, so I just finished taking the top off and peeling the membrane back for him. I put him back in the incubator so he can try to push himself the rest of the way out, but so far, the chick is just laying there. I don't know if it has the energy left to push out, it doesn't seem like it's moving around much anymore. Is there ever a time where you help a chick completely hatch, or is this guy just not going to make it?

Thanks for the advice!

It's pretty important for the development of their legs to push themselves out. But It sounds like he just doesn't have the strength to make it.
The way I look at it, you have nothing to lose by helping him the rest of the way. It doesn't look good either way. Sorry.

 

[One Chick Two]

Quote:

Yes! There are times to completely remove them. Last week we had the same dilemma.

After a day 23 hatch of 4 healthy chicks, late on day 26 we were removing infertile/ quitter eggs, and low and behold- three chicks in shells in the far corner looking at us and suddenly peeping loudly, that had been stuck inside. A complete surprise. They had been silent the whole time.

Immediately, we shut the incubator, but after two days and a half days more, we realized their peeping was getting weaker, so we opened the incubator again, and realized we had three 'sticky' chicks where the membranes had dried- like gum all over them. Probably lost humidity from when we were collecting eggs. We removed a bit of shell from them, waited a few hours, checked, but we realized there was no way they could get out on their own-- we hardly could get the membranes off of them!

We didn't want to remove them, but with all the time that had already passed, their peeping became weak but insistent. We eventually removed all the shells and membranes as much as possible. We gave them a few droppers full of slightly warmed sugar water (just so it wasn't cold.) and put them back in the incubator for another few days to rest and dry, taking them out only to give a bit of sugar water every few hours. For the first 19? hours they lay on their side to rest, peeping contentedly, but no one seemed to be going downhill.

One chick had a malformed neck- I think from being in the shell too long, but was otherwise normal, and eventually died. The other two were tiny, and after they began standing and walking, looked fluffed up, and peeping to get out, we put them in with the other chicks. One chick never had vitality- it eventually passed. The other had a driving force to live and thrived. It quickly drank, ate, ran and socialized and learned with the others. He still had bits of membrane stuck to him which the chicks promptly pulled off. The chick was very sad looking. Here he is below after he was first taken from the incubator after having most of the membrane removed.




The other thing to mention is that their feathers were very glued down, one eye was glued shut ,and all three babies had their vents glued shut. If you have to take them out, make sure to really watch for glued pasty vents.

He actually looks very good now, except for a few tiny bald patches. Although he is much smaller, he has every bit the vigor of the others. We are sad about the other two, but at least we saved the life of one chick.

 

[One Chick Two]

Here he is looking much better at 8 days old.

(His toe looks a bit strange in the shot, but he was balancing on a pillow. lol) The black is his new big boy toe feathers. He's smaller than the other chicks, but he's been eating well, so assuming he's not a genetic runt, he should be pretty normal by adulthood.

 

[sahmoffour]

Thanks for your help you guys.

I did get him out, and left the bottom 1/3 of the shell and he managed to push himself out, but he was a bit deformed. So I ended up having to put him out of his misery.

Thanks for the replies though, now I know for next time!

 

[One Chick Two]

So sorry for your loss!