Dented egg day 17

[Coop-de-doop]

I was doing my last turn over before lockdown, and dented one of the eggs pretty good. Nothing is leaking out. Should I leave it in there? I feel awful

 

[BastyPutt]

Okay! Thank you!

Good morning y'all! Good job on getting them out of their eggs @Coop-de-doop !

Yes, similar to when we wake up with our arm asleep after a long night with it in a weird spot, the chicks bodies will be a bit contorted.

The bad news is that they can't eat and take care of themselves this way. The good news is they have every thing they need for 72 hours after absorbing all the yolk from the egg. So you have at least 2 days from this point before the chick will HAVE to eat and drink. In that time, you should see the chick begin to improve.

It is always good to add to their water, regardless of circumstances, extra nutrients and "boosters" - usually premeasured packs of electrolytes and vitamins available at feed stores. It is going to be imperative for twister here to get some of those extras.

We try to be as natural and self sustaining as possible, so we just dissolve sugar in water and feed fermented food - we rarely lose chicks for any reason with these two adds and see a lot repair themselves after a difficult hatch. But the electrolyte packs are cheap and easy as well, so you may prefer these depending on your flock goals.

Lastly, there is a really good chance twister is going to end up with splay leg - which is no big deal if treated early. You will want to make sure that you have some very small rubber bands on hand, as well as plastic straws. I can help further or reference articles if you start seeing the chicks legs or a single leg - stick out sideways in a very unnatural way.

 

[BastyPutt]

Okay! I’m new to hatching. If it looks dry during lockdown, is it okay to open the incubator and dab it? Lockdown starts in the morning

Although lockdown is important, it isn't as extreme as it is cracked out to be, assuming you have had good humidity throughout the hatch and you are a bit more careful when they are just pipped.

You obviously don't want to have the lid off for an hour, but if you are just opening it to tend to an egg you don't have to worry about it.

If possible, I would suggest using coconut oil to moisten the membrane. If not, water should be okay, but for me personally, the coconut oil gives me a bit more confidence and doesn't contribute to my already unbearable anxiety while hatching!!!

 

[TwoCrows]

I take that back. It’s getting a little bit better. One of the other chicks came out to it, and it’s trying to straighten out!

Give the little guy time, he probably needs sustenance now. You need to do a few things...first pick up each chick and dip their beaks in the water and set them right in front of the water. Chicks rely on momma to show them where food and water is. Next, get a paper towel and sprinkle crushed feed on it right in front of the feeder so they see the food and know where it's stored. I recommend crushing the feed a bit for the first few days, chicks this tiny can't swallow big crumble.

Congrats on your new chicks!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I'm late to this party, but wanted to say I had two chicks with dented eggshells that hatched successfully. I dropped one egg during candling at lockdown, and it fell on top of the other egg, denting and cracking both. One hatched on its own perfectly but the inside of the shell showed there'd been quite a lot of bleeding before hatch. The other one's face got stuck to the membrane and I had to assist the hatch. It was also quite bloody (old blood) inside. But both chicks were FINE.

 

[Coop-de-doop]

It’s still twisted up

I take that back. It’s getting a little bit better. One of the other chicks came out to it, and it’s trying to straighten out!

 

[TwoCrows]

The paper towel is a great idea. It is always nerve racking thinking they won't find the food in the container. I'll be doing this from now on.

It really helps. You can tap on it with your finger like you are eating, it gets them started right up. After a few days they should find the feeder, you can remove the paper towel then.

 

[Coop-de-doop]

Congrats, being that this was your first hatch, you did a wonderful job! Sorry you had some troubles however this was a good learning experience. Being that this is day 21, I think they hatched a bit early which tells me either the temp was a bit too high or the eggs started to develop before setting. And this alone could have caused the troubles. Give the other eggs a couple more days and if nothing is happening, you can pitch them out, they are either dead or infertile.

Enjoy your new babies, they are adorable!

Okay thank you! I know they all had moving babies in them on day 17, but this incubator is faulty I think. I’ll wait a couple more days

 

[Coop-de-doop]

So glad Twister is doing well! I think these 3 will do fine, chicks can be pretty resilient.

It's safe to open the lid since none of them are pipping. You might candle each one at a time. The light should cause movement if they are alive.

Keep us posted on the chicks and eggs!

None of them moved It almost looks like they either tried to poke through to the air cell, but couldn’t, or they did, and air came in along side their bodies, and they didn’t go any further. You could kind of make out the triangle where their head would be on most of them. How sad. This was my friend’s incubator she got at a farm auction, and I was just hatching eggs for her farm, so I don’t plan on hatching any more until I buy myself a nice incubator and humidity gauge. At least the 3 made it. So sad. I started with 11 eggs.

 

[Coop-de-doop]

There's a lot of good incubators out there. Lots of people use the Manna Pro 360 here on BYC. Shop around and definitely read the reviews on them.

Okay I definitely will. Thanks for being with me through all of this! The 3 I have are eating and drinking. One of them keeps one of its eyes closed. It will open if I help it, and stays open a while, but closes again like it won’t open on its own. But walks around and eats just fine when it can see. There’s nothing seeping. It looks clean and bright.