Dry membrane on hatching chick

[tmarie623]

While on vacation for a few days my broody hen sat on a few eggs and I decided to let her just go with it. This is my first go round with hatching and I didn't get an exact start date. This experience has NOT been textbook by any means. Earliest hatch date possible was last week. One egg had hairline crack on Monday and a tiny start of a pip Tuesday, more like a fracture than broken through. Chick never made noise. The pip spot was on wrong end of egg and by Thursday I assumed it died b/c no progress or noise but left it just in case. Go figure it starts hatching this afternoon and now I'm in a panic! The membrane is white but dry and leathery. The chick poked 2 tiny holes in membrane that look blood lined. I used tweezers to lift membrane and its a tad oozy with blood so I left it alone. I can see it trying to break membrane over its beak and it made some peep noises. Hopefully I didn't screw up but I just put coconut oil on membrane to soften it then put it back under hen. Advice????!

 

[sourland]

You've done the right thing. If membrane is still lined with active blood vessels, the chick is still not ready to hatch. Good luck for a successful hatch.

 

[tmarie623]

You've done the right thing. If membrane is still lined with active blood vessels, the chick is still not ready to hatch. Good luck for a successful hatch.

Thanks for responding! Really hoping the chick makes it b/c I'm not sure how much energy it's been using working that shell. Guess I will have to just keep an eye out to make sure it stays softened.