Chick's Leg only out of shell under mom after 24 hours...still peeping

[airmom1c05]

Is it OK if after 24 hours since first pip if only one of the chick's legs is free from the shell? It is fluffy and dry, and the chick is still peeping vigorously. I am concerned that its head is not breaking through the shell by now. This chick is being hatched by its mom a Serama bantam.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Under those cercimstances I might try to see if I could find the beak or help a little , stop if you see viens or blood, Good luck

 

[airmom1c05]

Thank you.

 

[TriciaHowe]

I agree I think intervention is warranted....
Good luck and let us know how it goes

 

[gabrielle1976]

You might think about going in from the top of the egg where the air cell is so you can suply oxgen when youre helping out the baby's beak should be up there specally if you hear cheeping.

 

[airmom1c05]

The chick's head is out! It was between its legs. I did not fully remove the chick from all the shell, however. I do want it to be strong.

It is safely back under Mom, now.

I have lined the coop part of its pen with paper towels over the pine shavings. I have chick starter scattered around on the towels. Now all I need to to is fill the chick water bottle and secure it so it won't tip over. I have raised the gallon water bottle about 3 inches off the floor so the chick won't drown in it. I suppose I will have to move it completely out of the little coop in a couple of days. This is my first successful hatch!!!! There are two more eggs under the mom from 2 other Serama hens. They are due to hatch tomorrow and the next day. One of the other Serama hens is sitting on one of her own eggs which is due to hatch in 6 days. Also, one of my Buff Orps went broody on an empty nest, and I placed a Welsummer egg and a Black orp bantam egg under her which should hatch in 4 days. I've been waiting for something like this for over a year.

 

[gabrielle1976]

You may want to check again in like 7or 8 hours and see how its going , it may have dried out the memberane with everything going on , I say if it can breath give it a good chance to hatch all the way on its own but keep an eye on it incase it gets stuck in the shell because of humidity issues.

 

[Akane]

If you help some you often have to help all the way. You end up getting them into an unnatural position (although it sounds like this one was already in an unnatural position) and then even if they are healthy they don't manage to break the remainer of the shell and hatch. I've had several active healthy looking chicks I helped due to humidity being off or something that failed to finish hatching no matter how long I left them. They were no longer in a position they recognized to finish zipping. When we help we tend to break away the end of the shell instead of going in a line like a chick would zip and we remove parts the chick needs to push against to get back on that line. If the chick is all dry and there was no blood I'd just remove it from the shell. It sounds to me like it's healthy but got in a weird position so it couldn't hatch properly.

 

[airmom1c05]

OK. Thank you all very much.