Day 24 Chicks- Emergency Hatch Proceedure a Complete Success!

[geeperspeepers]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to tell you that I intervened and helped my eggs hatch on day 24. Apparently my incubator was running at 97.5 deg. F and I was worried they ( my 3 mystery eggs) would not make it. The humidity was extra low at 40-50% RH. for at least 3/4 incubation. Darn cheep guages. They had not even pipped the inner membrane because it was completely dry, white and very tough. Its too bad I didn't take any pics of the process (about 20 hours worth- mostly waiting) because all of them are now hatched and doing fantastically.

Thanks for all of your help with details about how to do this. And patience definately made this hatch easy going for them and me.

I kept the humidity very high and temperature on the lower side. The incubator windows had fog and small waterdropletts on it most of the time for this entire process.

Making the hole in the egg:

I candled the egg and penciled in the aircell area to define my picking limits. I then scratched a hole in the center of the aircell area of the egg with a drywall screw and picked a 1 inch hole in the shell with tweezers. I stayed away from the membranes attached to the rest of the shell and stuck to the free area of the aircell.

First breath: hole in the membrane

I then used a q-tip, dipped it in my egg cup full of hot water and wet the white outer membrane beneth the shell and slit it in half folding it over the shell's outside side and not tearing it off. I then wet the inner membrane over the chick ontill I could see the blood vessels and the beak beaneth it. I looked for an area of the membrane free of blood vessels and closest to the beak. Then I crossed my fingers, downed a glass of Doctor Pepper, double checked that everything was wet or free moving and tugged on the membrane with a tiny pinch of the tweezers. I didn't pull too far back on my tugs incase the membrane was stuck somewhere else that I could not see because I didn't want to risk bleeding from an unseen area. If the first tug didn't rip a hole with a slight twist I didn't force it and just tried again. Once the hole was made I slipped the membrane over the beak and made sure it was secure and that it would not slip back. I then wet everything again with hot water and a q-tip but payed attention not to get water near the beak. I even rolled the hot,wet q-tip around the inside shell of the egg as far back as I could and this moisened the rest of the membrane. Again the incubator was on the cooler side and wet so not too much drying out occured at this point.

Back to sleep:

The chicks did NOT peep or chirp and did not make any sounds at this point. I wrapped the eggs in a hot wet facecloth with a tiny breathing hole, placed them on a dry facecloth in a tupperware beside eachother and back in the incubator. I sprayed hot water with a spray bottle into the incubator everytime I put them back in to increase the humidity. I did each individually and did not remove all of the eggs at one time. About 2-3 hours later there was a melody of 3 peeping chicks and they did not stop. I stopped worrying that the chicks wouldn't make it at this point and knew that if I was patient, gentle, careful of blood vessels and gave plently of time between tendings there was not too much to worry about. I left them to peep like this for quite a few hours (maybe 6) but rewet the membrane a time or two to see if the blood was being reabsorbed into the chick and out of the membrane. Again I wasn't worried they wouldn't make it now because they could breath and I know they don't need food right away. Once I thought the coast was clear of major blood vessels (the tiny tiny tiny ones don't count) I started chipping a thin line around one side of the shell, wetting the membrane and pinching it open and off of the chick and over onto the shell. I did about 1/2 inch at a time, remoistened and back into the incubator for an hour. A little blood poured out on the first one but I just twirreled a few q-tips on the spot, didn't worry too much and wrapped up the egg and put it back for a few extra hours.

Wetting the membrane, tweezing open the membrane and off the chick and up onto the egg shell in stages staying away from blood. I did not work all of the way around the egg but 3/4's on either side of the hole. I wanted the chicks to remain in the egg ontill they could push open the last bit to free themselves. I did this because I did not want the chicks stomach pouch exposed and rather waited ontill it was probably already obsorbed. One after the other they kicked their way out. I let them stay laying in half the egg for an hour just to make sure the stomach pouch's last remains were absorbed. Again I wasn't worried they would make it now and took EXTRA time instead of rushing things.

They spent overnight as eggs with a hole and a beak wrapped in a hot water facecloth and were none the happier in the am when almost all of the blood was absorbed and hatching the rest could take place after a few hour period. Please be extra gentle if your hatching late chicks and do not rush anything. Keep everything moist and free. Ill post a pic soon. By the way, the chicks are black and yellow, have black beaks and beautiful fluffy feathered feet. Any idea what breed/mix. I guess you'll have to see a pic to know.

Unfortunately I have 6 goose eggs incubating as well at the same temperature so I think I will candle them at 30 days (tonight) and start taking action. I may have to wait ontill 31-32 because of the lower temp to be on par. If its way too early when I open up I will moisten the solid membrane Ill let you know how the gosslings do.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

you seem to have every thing figured out
much sussess with the hachlings
good explanation here

 

[chicklips]

Good Job! Glad to hear that the ducks are fine.

 

[geeperspeepers]

Hi Glenda,

Thanks for the reply. I was able to use this method last year on 40 call ducks that would not hatch. It was my second batch of 40 eggs, with the first batch almost all dead by birthdate. I don't like them getting hot so I try to keep my incubator a tad cooler than normal now because of fluctuations. I know now that my cheap thermometer is way off. I did lose one duckling lastyear because I did not wait long enough for the stomach to withdraw and I seperated the duckling from the egg too early. I know now that even if the stomach is out, the chick or duckling can be placed back into the attached lower part of the egg and wrapped in a moist facecloth for a few extra hours. This usually clears the problem. The only problem with helping things hatch is that if you wait too long their legs can cease up and then they can not walk. As soon as the stomach is inside I put them on the wire floor to start using their feet even if they are still attached by their "umbilical" tissue. It will eventually dry up to next to nothing and can be snipped. No more splayed legs (knock on wood)! Wish me luck on the goslings,

I would really like to get some reliable guages. Can you mention something fairly inexpensive? Although now I am confident that I can save some poor cheepies lives in emergency, I would rather them do it on their own. I was thinking about going to the local smoke shop and getting a cigar cabinet hygrometer. There are some fancy ones (like pocket watches) for fairly cheap $12.

gp

 

[countrybum]

I want to say what a useful posting and Congrats on your babies surviving.

Keep us posted about the geese.

 

[geeperspeepers]

Hi everyone,

I started the gosling rescue yesterday at about 5pm. There are now three goslings detached and free from their eggshells, very wobbly, whistling constantly and very cute. This is so amazing! The chicken chicks are little scramblers running around and eating hardboiled egg yolk like mad. They made it and are very healthy little puffballs! I took pictures of the hole process for the geese just incase-- Ill post later. I think two goslings are embdem and one a dewlap toulouse. Im not positive because this is my first gosling experience. Oh by the way, the temperature for incubation was 96 degrees F, I wrote differently I believe in the message above.

For the geese I made sure that every couple of hours I moistened the membranes around the inside of the egg and kept everything very clean so there would be no sticky mess. I think its important for the goslings to have you touch and speak with it every few hours. I also rinsed the facecloth in the hottest water from the tap, wrung it out and repacked them a few times during the day, usually after moistening them. I am still waiting on one more gosling right now, it's still curled up in its egg/hot wet facecloth package and hasn't tried to lift it head yet. The others did the same ontill their stomachs were absorbed. I guess they need that energy to wriggle out. I kept each egg wrapped in a wet facecloth but left the end open'ish so that when they could move their head out they would, and they did. They looked like neat little facecloth- packages with gosling heads plopped out. Don't worry I have pictures. I left them like this but still made sure they were not drying out and moistened those that needed it. The incubator window was covered in waterdropplets and I sprayed really hot water from the spray bottle everytime I closed the incubator up. It turns out that the weight of the facecloth was all that was needed (to stabilize the egg) for them to detatch from the eggshell when they could- on their own. I went smelt fishing for a few hours and left them like this but I got a bit worried, the smelt fishing sucked, so I came home. When I looked in, the facecloth packages were in the same place with the shells inside but the goslings had broken free and moved around the incubator. So exciting. I put a bit of betadine on their navel and left them to dry. Ill keep you posted, I am really happy I have some new chicks and geese.
gp