Day 23 - opened egg, live chick, no air cell

[MontanaChickDoc]

I had given up on 4 eggs (olive eggers and shells too thick to candle) that should have hatched Sun evening/ Monday morning. I opened one at the fat end and immediately hit inner membrane...the chick is alive and peeping but there is no air cell at least at this end. I dabbed flour to stop the little bleeding...now what. Wait and see? Give him til morning? One other has a live chick but seems malpositioned. Large air cell but no beak. Lots of active blood vessels in the inner membrane so I’m afraid to do anything. I greased the membrane with coconut oil...now what??? I’m afraid if I intervene with malpositioned chick she’ll bleed out.

 

[katiek77]

I had given up on 4 eggs (olive eggers and shells too thick to candle) that should have hatched Sun evening/ Monday morning. I opened one at the fat end and immediately hit inner membrane...the chick is alive and peeping but there is no air cell at least at this end. I dabbed flour to stop the little bleeding...now what. Wait and see? Give him til morning? One other has a live chick but seems malpositioned. Large air cell but no beak. Lots of active blood vessels in the inner membrane so I’m afraid to do anything. I greased the membrane with coconut oil...now what??? I’m afraid if I intervene with malpositioned chick she’ll bleed out.

I used these guides to fully assist two malpositioned chicks a month in a half ago. Follow it to a T and you should do fine. I’ve never heard of no aircell. That is crazy.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

Update: I went outside to do some yard work. When I came back in the malpositioned one had stopped breathing. It seemed to have a large swelling just behind its skull - edema maybe from being malpositioned? or a malformation but maybe that is why it was head down in the shell - it was just "not right" and couldn't get into the right position for hatching - just wasn't meant to be. The other with no air cell was peeping, I carefully assisted it out. There was a small amount of bleeding from the inner membrane but the yolk sac was fully absorbed. Unfortunately, as soon as it was free of the shell, it gasped a few times and died. It truly had no air cell, or at least it was so small and maybe displaced that I couldn't appreciate it. Oh well, at least I tried, poor little things.

 

[Perris]

 

[katiek77]

Update: I went outside to do some yard work. When I came back in the malpositioned one had stopped breathing. It seemed to have a large swelling just behind its skull - edema maybe from being malpositioned? or a malformation but maybe that is why it was head down in the shell - it was just "not right" and couldn't get into the right position for hatching - just wasn't meant to be. The other with no air cell was peeping, I carefully assisted it out. There was a small amount of bleeding from the inner membrane but the yolk sac was fully absorbed. Unfortunately, as soon as it was free of the shell, it gasped a few times and died. It truly had no air cell, or at least it was so small and maybe displaced that I couldn't appreciate it. Oh well, at least I tried, poor little things.

No air cell and malpositioned are usually signs of humidity to high on days 1-18. I’m so sorry for your losses.

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

It could definitely be. The others hatched OK (12 other chicks) but I got a little water in the thermometer/ hygrometer mid-incubation and it totally short circuited the POC. It was reading 103F and 12% humidity which I knew was not right. I'm irritated because I just bought this new thermometer/ hygrometer after finding out the old one was reading 2 degrees too warm - no wonder my last batch of chicks hatched 2 days late!! Thermometer read 100.5 but was really only 98.5. Ugh - too much drama for me. I don't really want to spend $50 on a "good" thermometer hygrometer but the $10 ones seem to be pure junk.

 

[RainbowRabbits]

The AcuRite 01083 on amazon is a high accuracy thermometer and hygrometer for $15 that has pretty good reviews. I got one and personally really like mine.

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

The AcuRite 01083 on amazon is a high accuracy thermometer and hygrometer for $15 that has pretty good reviews. I got one and personally really like mine.

Thank you I will order one tout suite!