I had a chick that had issues hatching, it needed assistance, as it became shrink wrapped in the shell even though it did not have an external pip when the incubator had been opened to check the viability of the remaining eggs. We ended up having to perform the external pip for it and that is when we saw it had the shrink wrap issue.
Now I am new to all this but read and read and read prior to even setting eggs all about how you guys handle different hatching situations on BYC. I delicately pulled away the shell and the outer white membrane, watched the inner membrane for any active blood vessels, stopped when I saw them, wrapped it in a damp paper towel and then check again in a little while. This process was slow, lasted all night. I knew better than to rush it. I saw that his yolk sac was maybe half way drawn in so I just completely stopped everything, allowed him to rest wrapped in a paper towel with the remaining half of his shell. Eventually I heard him in there chirping his head off, checked on him and he was dragging himself around a little with his umbilical cord still attached to the egg. I checked, his yolk sac was now about the size of a pencil eraser, saw this as a good sign. Since his umbilical cord was still an active vessel I placed him in a tiny bowl with a moist paper towel under him so he wouldn't hurt himself dragging around the shell, and so that his sac would stay moist and placed him back in the bator. I had to leave the house for half the day. When I returned he was still in the bowl, I lifted him up, his umbilical cord was dry but did not detach so I clipped it about an inch from his body but when doing so I notice he had a bump about half the size of a BB that was kind of dry looking. I don't know if this is a hernia or part of the yolk sac, looks more red than yolk-like. I applied some Neosporin and have left him be. I know survival of the fittest and all but wanted to see if there was anything more I could do? Will this eventually withdrawal? Dry up and scab off? Is it always certain to be a death sentence?
He is active, chirping, moving around. Not quite the most excellent balance yet after all that work but he's getting there.
Now I am new to all this but read and read and read prior to even setting eggs all about how you guys handle different hatching situations on BYC. I delicately pulled away the shell and the outer white membrane, watched the inner membrane for any active blood vessels, stopped when I saw them, wrapped it in a damp paper towel and then check again in a little while. This process was slow, lasted all night. I knew better than to rush it. I saw that his yolk sac was maybe half way drawn in so I just completely stopped everything, allowed him to rest wrapped in a paper towel with the remaining half of his shell. Eventually I heard him in there chirping his head off, checked on him and he was dragging himself around a little with his umbilical cord still attached to the egg. I checked, his yolk sac was now about the size of a pencil eraser, saw this as a good sign. Since his umbilical cord was still an active vessel I placed him in a tiny bowl with a moist paper towel under him so he wouldn't hurt himself dragging around the shell, and so that his sac would stay moist and placed him back in the bator. I had to leave the house for half the day. When I returned he was still in the bowl, I lifted him up, his umbilical cord was dry but did not detach so I clipped it about an inch from his body but when doing so I notice he had a bump about half the size of a BB that was kind of dry looking. I don't know if this is a hernia or part of the yolk sac, looks more red than yolk-like. I applied some Neosporin and have left him be. I know survival of the fittest and all but wanted to see if there was anything more I could do? Will this eventually withdrawal? Dry up and scab off? Is it always certain to be a death sentence?
He is active, chirping, moving around. Not quite the most excellent balance yet after all that work but he's getting there.
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Poor thing. The paper towel seemed to keep everything from sticking. I had one that had a tiny bit of goo stuck to his back but I just wet my finger and rubbed at it and it came right off.
