Day 25 HELP I need advice!

[mothersin2ition]

all my eggs hatched out on Sunday/Monday and I have one egg who I could see was alive. No pipping though. I left it alone. Last night I decided to help it out because I could clearly see it was alive, but it was in the shell upside down. I removed the portion of the egg where the air cell was (which was about half the egg by this point), but not the inner membrane. The chick is very alive- it looks like it's breathing, though I don't see where it's head is. I don't want to do anything to the inner membrane because there is still some blood you can see running through the tiny veins. This chick is NOT healthy, it is neither chirping at all, or moving, aside from the breathing movements. What do I do? Should I put it down? It is very obviously not going to hatch on it's own, and I feel like I'm prolonging the inevitable by letting it just stay there. What would you do- cull? Or try and completely hatch it out (remove the inner membrane) and see if it makes it? Personally I don't think that it would be normal or healthy, but I don't want to put it down if there's a chance...

 

[Farmer Viola]

Quote: This chick is NOT healthy, it is neither chirping at all, or moving, aside from the breathing movements. What do I do? Should I put it down? It is very obviously not going to hatch on it's own, and I feel like I'm prolonging the inevitable by letting it just stay there. What would you do- cull? Or try and completely hatch it out (remove the inner membrane) and see if it makes it? Personally I don't think that it would be normal or healthy, but I don't want to put it down if there's a chance...
Ok if there is still blood in the veins, STOP and put it back. removing the membrane or removing the chick from the membrane may cause hemorrhage and the chick may die.

the membrane needs to be kept moist, you can use either warm water or neosporin ointment (offbrand ok, NO pain reliever!) to soften the membrane. softening it will also allow you to see the active veins better.

can you post a picture? has any shell been removed yet?
you said it is malpositioned upside down, how do you know that?
I would very slowly remove enough shell around the head/beak without severing the membrane. I would leave the membrane in tact after removing some shell and let the chick wiggle out on it's own.

must read on intervention: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/9316/intervention-helping-your-chicks-hatch

 

[mothersin2ition]

I removed the shell where the aircell was, but not any of the inner membrane. Then I wrapped the egg with a wet warm towell and put it back. It's malpositioned because I can't see its head or anything at the air-cell side up. It's curled in there upside down..
Here it is after I wetted the membrane.

 

[Farmer Viola]

okay good job!

the membrane looks good. I do not see any active/full veins, so that is also good!
I see what looks like the membrane wrinking a little bit, it looks pink. that is normal. make sure that pink wrinkle is not actually a vein, it doesn't look like it from here, but you can see the real egg....

I think that I might be able to see the head and beak. I outlined it in blue, could this be the head? or am I seeing it completely wrong?

IF it is the beak, we will make a very very small incision right above the beak tip so it can breathe. if not, just wait longer....
you said you can see it breathing? does the membrane fill with air? or it just looks like the chick is moving/breathing in there?

 

[mothersin2ition]

Im sorry I didnt respond earlier, and thanks so much for the input, but when I checked on chickie again, he/she had passed
I did end up breaking it out of the shell to see if I could figure out what went wrong- but there was really no indication. It was fully developed, had absorbed all the yolk...and the head/beak was actually on the underside in this picture, it was in the right position with its head under its wing, just toward the pointy side of the egg, not the air cell. Poor thing. I wish I had been able to save it. The only thing I could see was that the umbilical cord was not closed off at all, when I broke it apart, a fair amount of blood came out of his tummy where the cord was

...not sure if that is normal and would have closed up at hatching?? Anyway, the baby didn't have much chance of making it, I just was really crossing fingers I could help somehow.

Farmer Viona, I just want to say thanks a ton for trying to help me!

 

[Farmer Viola]

Aww I'm sorry.. you did everything you could! and hopefully can take something away from it as a learning experience? I just mean, maybe try to see it in a positive light somehow. I know that isnt always possible..

sometimes they are just not meant to hatch for whatever reason. it can be parent nutrition, rough handling off eggs in shipment (I forget if yours were shipped), humidity, temperature... really, it can be anything, and sometimes there is just nothing you can do...

the yolk can look like a deflated bag that sorta forms into a "cord" and dangles out, sometimes. maybe that is what you were seeing....
the last thing to happen before hatch is that the chick's intestines are sucked into the belly, then the yolk. it does not sound like you saw intestines, it sounds like you just saw the yolk sack. it's not ideal to hatch with anything dangling, but they can make it... you have to keep it very clean though, risk of infection is high.
bleeding from the "cord" is super bad, would have been fatal if it were alive.. SMALL bleeding can be stopped with a dab of cornstarch, but from the abdomen it's usually too much.

now go hug all your fuzzybutts that made it!!