Do I need to help? Don't know when the pipping started, membrane dark

[karmlacres]

I have one chicken egg in the incubator due to hatch yesterday/today. I checked on it today and saw no indication it was making an attempt. I have duck eggs in there and so I wobbled things around and added some water. I know I'm not suppose to open the box but since I didn't have much hope for this one egg, I draped a towel over and reached in to care for things. Well, lo and behold, in my wobbling, the chicken egg flipped over and WOW! The chick had been trying to get out. It's more than a just a pip. I have no idea when this activity started. So, now. because I had opened the box and likely disturbed the humidity, etc. Will I need to watch for anything to warrant helping the little one out?

When my last clutch of eggs hatched (those were Marans), once they pipped and started zipping, I could see a white membrane. This brown egg from what I believe to be a mutt (she's white) chicken, the membrane looks brownish/greyish. I'm concerned that the membrane isn't white. And when I say membrane, I'm talking the thin layer right under the shell. I don't know if that's the right term or not. I'm trying to watch for movement and listen for peeps but when I stare too long, I start to see things that are likely not really there.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!


A picture...

 

[ethingtonart]

Does the color look like it could be blood? I have had a couple who have pecked their own vein a little when they were unzipping, and that caused the membrane to discolor a bit. As long as there is still movement and chirping, or you can see the chick breathing I think it should be okay.

Any more progress?

 

[karmlacres]

It just looks brown/grey. I doesn't look like a solid color - there is some variation. I'm worried that it's dried out. I can't tell yet if there is movement. I don't hear anything. I'm just concerned about how far along it appears to be (based on my last hatch which was my first one). Does the breed of chicken make a difference on the membrane color? I get so obsessed when they are hatching! I can't stand this. I talk to them but they don't respond! I want to candle it and hold it and tap it but it's like they are behind locked doors. I had put in 8 eggs from my own birds. Some had sat outside for who knows how many days. I was hoping my duck would sit on her own eggs + some hen eggs but she didn't seem too interested. So once there are 20 eggs in the pen, I gave up hope of any birds going broody, so I threw them in the bator. Of the 12 duck and 8 hen, I had one hen go in to lockdown and I think there are 9 ducks in their last week. I saw two of them move today. I'm excited for some Easter babies

Anyways, how long should I give this chick to get herself out? Should I try to chip away her shell some? I can't see that the membrane has broken but maybe it is under that one piece of shell that is pipped out but not broken away. I just want to lift it and look in there to see if I need to help get her out!!!! This will be my first chick from my own birds - so it's super exciting!!!

 

[karmlacres]

I'm afraid I lost my little chick

I can not see movement, breathing or anything. No peeps. I hate it got as far along as it did and it didn't make it

 

[ethingtonart]

How long has it been? I think the general rule is to wait 24 hours because sometimes they just take a nap or rest awhile. Have your duck eggs pipped yet? If not (and you really believe there is a problem... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=45583) you could try to intervene. Follow the info here... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9316

I have had to help a chick hatch before successfully. She zipped half way, stopped and skipped a bit, zipped the other half and then skipped a bit again. There was no way for her to hatch on her own at that point.

Use a strong flashlight and double check the membrane for signs of movement/breathing before you try to intervene though. If she is still breathing then she is probably okay.

Good luck!

 

[karmlacres]

I really have no idea when the chick pipped. THe egg was set in the back of the bator, the bator is in a corner of the counter. I honestly didn't have much hope there was a viable chick in there. Of the 8 hen eggs, this was the only that possibly had formed. Most were porous and clear and some others were early quitters and then there is the one I "cooked" which likely fried a few of the others that quit. I don't know how, but I found the temps one morning at 102! No idea how long that had been or anything. Then another morning, I found the humidity less than 20 *gasp*. I apparently had neglected checking the water levels. So, with all that went wrong, I was surprised to have found that this chick had even pipped. The only reason I saw it was because I wobbled the bator a little bit to stir up the duck eggs a little. They still have another week in the bator and I have been a bit uneasy about this lockdown and the eggs not getting turned. So I wobbled a little and when I did, the chicken egg spun around and I could then see the side I had no visibility to. The chick had pipped and had gotten some other egg shell broken off, exposing areas of the membrane which looked brown. But it seems now that it is just the chicken I'm seeing through it. I *swore* I saw it wobble after I realized it had pipped but then I was second guessing as to whether or not I saw it move on it's own. Watched, watched, watched. Part of my worry was that since I was pretty sure there wasn't going to be anything happening, I popped the lid open to put more water in for the sake of the ducks. I did have a towel over the lid to try to keep heat/humidity in, but I was worried that I harmed it

I just had no idea there was any progress in that little egg!

So I found some info on the boards about helping (may be one of the links above - I haven't verified yet). I steamed up the bathroom good and steamy. Wrapped the egg in a hot, hot, wet towel and broke away a bit of shell and poked at the beak, tapped on the shell. Watched for movement, breathing. Nothing at all

My girls were cheering and encouraging the little one to move, breath or say something ... but nothing

I guess they aren't too upset as when it wasn't moving they said it was my chicken (previously, they were arguing over who's chick it would be to name). And then there are the 5 babies we have that are now 4 weeks old that they enjoy interacting with. They seem to have gotten over it better than me! haha

This egg is kind of uniform in shape. It's really hard to tell which is the fat end. I had one in my last batch like this that ended up not hatching. I can't remember now what happened to that one. How much is egg shape a factor? Size-wise, this was one of the larger ones of the 8 I originally had collected from my hen -- all from the same hen.

 

[ethingtonart]

I am so sorry.

I am always more broken up about losing a chick that my kids are... I think we have more of a relationship with them, being the ones who turn them everyday.

I hope your duck eggs hatch though! PM me when they do!

I am not certain about the shape of the egg being a factor. I would be interested to know though since I have a few that are that shape in my incubator right now. I had to mark where the air cell was on one of them because both ends of the egg look identical.

 

[karmlacres]

It was just a curiosity thing. Since this is all still pretty new to me, I just recall an egg like this in the last hatch and just made me wonder