Do I help it?

[MuckyPuppy]

Quote:
I knew mine was because I opened the incubator to try and help one of the first chicks because I didn't open it again until I realised that every chick that pipped or was trying to zip was stuck. They were all already pipped or starting to zip when I decided to "quickly" get the ill chick out. I'm just not fast enough.

(first hatch) Which is why I now don't open the incubator when there is another egg with a pip or zip.

 

[ChicksinFL]

Just to update... chickie made it out of the egg but only because the other chick beat the egg up so badly. Chickie had an unabsorbed yolk sack but is doing really good.at.this moment. I had to open the bator and snatch out the healthy ones because the oldest was pecking at the newest. I have six hatchlings now and am trying to decide how long to wait on the other six.

 

[luckychicken1]

Update on the chickens that we helped. We helped about 3 or 4 of them. Its true that when u open it u risk a vicious cycle of shrink wrapping. Out of the ones we helped only one had an actual problem. Unfortunately its spine was so curved and messed and it couldn't eat or drink even when hand fed with a dropper so sadly we had 2 let it go. The day one egg that never hatched we looked at it and it had a similar problem with the spine not being right. But it died naturally. The other 3 we helped are all good and were just too big for the shell. Unfortunately we could not open the bator 2 take out the chick in trouble as the last 2 had not hatched. We had 8 out of 10 chicks that were fine. Is this about normal? Thanks for your help. Becky

 

[MuckyPuppy]

Quote:
I'm sorry about your sick chick that you had to let go.

But it's great that the others are doing well.

I don't know if 8 healthy chicks out of 10 is normal or not. All of mine so far have been pretty healthy - one had to have a boot on a curled foot - but then some of my non-hatches might not have been just because all my eggs are shipped. I would think that the ratio of healthy chicks would depend on too many factors, some controllable, some not - health of the hens, incubation temp and humidity, breeding and etc.

 

[Dar]

Quote:
I'm sorry about your sick chick that you had to let go.

But it's great that the others are doing well.

I don't know if 8 healthy chicks out of 10 is normal or not. All of mine so far have been pretty healthy - one had to have a boot on a curled foot - but then some of my non-hatches might not have been just because all my eggs are shipped. I would think that the ratio of healthy chicks would depend on too many factors, some controllable, some not - health of the hens, incubation temp and humidity, breeding and etc.

8/10 is a great rate if u ask me!

 

[yinepu]

if I read this right you had 10 chicks hatch (or would have).. but 2 were deformed?

if that's the case.. no its not normal..

the cause would be that either:
your incubation temp was too high
incubation humidity was too low
there was a genetic problem with one or both of the parents
improper nutrition of the parents