Did I kill my chick????

[GottaHatchEmAll]

Hello!

I'm not very active on Backyard Chickens (my last post, which was about quail hatching) was eight months ago lol), but I am hatching another batch of eggs after eight months, this time lavender Orpingtons. One of my chicks hatched yesterday morning. I am waiting for the other two to hatch.

A couple of hours ago, I took out an egg from my incubator with an external pip from my incubator to candle it, thinking that it was dead. I took the egg out for about thirty seconds. Then a couple hours later, I opened my incubator for about twenty seconds to check on the egg. I noticed that the chick was alive, and that the beak was moving around inside! I immediately put it back in and gently sprayed the egg with water to soften the shell, but I'm super worried now.

Could I have killed my chick from taking it out, even though I only took it out from the incubator for about a minute, and will my chick be ok?

(Note: I did the incubator three or four split-second-quick times today to pour water in the tray and increase the humidity of the incubator)

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Is the chick dead?

 

[GottaHatchEmAll]

I do not think so. I believe I saw the egg moving around in the incubator, and when I was holding the egg, the beak was moving around. But I'm worried it's going to die/died because I took it out of the incubator while it was hatching.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I don't hatch so I'm no authority but I do think lockdown means just that. Opening the incubator once hatching begins risks the membrane drying out and the chicks becoming "shrink-wrapped," which I think can be fatal. So just leave everything shut now until hatching occurs. Sit on your hands, watch a movie and WAIT, lol!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I think it can take from 24 to 48 hours from external pip to hatch. Just leave it be. Not sure who our hatching experts are. Hmm.

@Perris, can you advise, encourage, etc?

 

[Susan Skylark]

Opening the incubator during lockdown and removing eggs doesn’t typically kill chicks and is often necessary for various reasons. No pips then just do it, If you have pips, just spike your humidity (add warm water a few minutes before) and be quick in and out. While shrink wrapping is a thing, it gets blamed for way more failure to hatch and late embryonic death than it should, the way you treat your preincubation and early incubation eggs is way more important to hatching success and late embryonic death rates. I’m always in and out of the incubator during lockdown but my hatching success has varied wildly though this doesn’t vary between hatches, what has varied is home raised eggs vs shipped, September eggs vs January (-10 degrees), this isn’t shrink wrapping it is developmental issues due to genetic damage in the early stages of incubation or before due to shipping or temperature trauma. Focusing on treating your preincubation eggs kindly will do way more to improve your hatch rates than fretting over shrink wrapping. Also keep in mind losing a few is a normal part of hatching, sometimes there is just nothing you can do so don’t beat yourself up either!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you, Susan! I will add you to my list of hatching experts!

 

[Perris]

I think it can take from 24 to 48 hours from external pip to hatch. Just leave it be. Not sure who our hatching experts are. Hmm.

@Perris, can you advise, encourage, etc?

I have zero experience with incubators. Happy to help with natural incubation using a broody.