EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

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Laodicia said:
TLDR: Candle at end of day 14!!!!

... update. I hatched some chicks last month, and i wasnt sure about candling on day 14. I candled at the beginning of day 14 +2 hours. I had 8 chicks everything went really well 100% hatch.
I just finished hatching my first large group of chicks....
started with 35. 31 made it to lockdown. and 26 made it out of their shells. I candled on day 14 +5 hours. of the 5 that died all were malpositions. only 1 had pipped interally and eventually died because it couldn't pip the shell. It's head was over its wing. the other ones I candled and had no movement. My sister was calling the shots because they were going to be her chicks. after candling she got me to open the aircell end and check. the chicks didn't respond to being poked with a finger.

Besides those 5 I had 4 other malpositions. the first 2 I assisted partially and they hatched on their own over night, one had a bit of a limp the other seemed to have a hip problem and could barely move. both are walking fine now.
the last 2 eggs I had in my incubator one had pipped the wrong end the other was chirping but was not in the aircell and hadn't pipped the shell. having lost one to this problem already I waited 6 hours the chirping was getting weaker so I opened the aircell end myself. found knees.

both of these chicks had major goopy slime all over them gluing them to their membrane.

I couldn't find the face of the chick, but there were a lot of veins so I put it back. after 3 more hours chick seemed to be having a really hard time breathing I made a hole in the shell and a very small poke where candling showed a clear empty spot and hoped that would at least give more oxygen. it helped a little but it bled. eventually I went exploring under the shell for a face, peeling it from the aircell area to where my best guess was, but I couldn't find it. and peeling back any outer membrane caused lots of bleeding. after a few tries hours apart I eventually decided that it was going to be either I make a hole dear its face now or loose it. so I peeled back some outer membrane and after many attempts managed a tiny hole in the inner membrane. I still couldn't see it's face at all but I had eyes on both knees and an elbow so I had a pretty good ballpark at this point.

It bled pretty bad, I put back the outer membrane where I could to try to slow it down a bit, and put the chick back in the incubator for another long rest. I switched to the other one at this point.

The other ones yolk I had already found was not absorbed so I was really just checking on him. because of his yellow down and the thick goop under his inner membrane I couldn't see well enough. His inner membrane had no blood in it 3 hours before. My sister said to try to get a better look, which ended up loosening the midsection of the membrane and it kicked itself free. with a very small amount of yolk still out. I put him back in the incubator and he laid mostly still he actually ended up gluing down to the cloth he was set on... his yolk was almost done absorbing 2 hours later, but he started to try to move. and pulled his yolk further out... he is separate from all of the other chicks, I'm waiting to see how he does over night.

I waited for the last chick as long as I could but it started to fade. I told my sister it would probably be best to put it outside and let it die. I didn't have the stomach to assist another chick which would likely bleed to death or die no matter what I did. She decided after having watched the chicks hatch and me assisting for 2 days straight... that she would give it a shot, it was going to die if she didn't anyway....

she rather clumsily pulled of the shell and outer membrane not stopping when it bled, and when she got about halfway (I wasn't watching most of what she was doing I couldn't handle seeing it bleeding every where.) she asked me what I thought. it had kicked through the membrane with just a foot cheeped loudly and then went quiet.

I took a look. it looked better than the last one. yolk fully absorbed but navel still open. I thought wow that's one tough little chick, it's still breathing. I assisted with the rest. all of the blood was coming from inside the air pocket it had made itself. when I poked a hole earlier the blood must have poured in quite a bit. it is with all of the normally hatched chicks and seems to be doing very well.

Needless to say I will not be candling on Day 14 again. I'll be waiting until I'm into day 15.

:D
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, a lot of times, the blood looks like a lot more than it is. When I assist hatch my guys, I usually wet the membranes and it makes it look like it bleeds more too, I don't tear, I "roll" it over the chick and I found if I manage to help get the hole big enough, I can kind of just shake the chick out of the egg until it's head/wing is free, and then put it back into the incubator. It will kick itself out when it's ready, but at least it can breath easier while it finishes absorbing everything.

I've lost a lot less chicks by helping them that way, then trying to wait until everythings perfectly dry and until the last minute when they are too weak to make it.
 
I have read and re-read the article on helping chicks hatch from the egg several times, and I've successfully helped them when I did 2 different incubations last year. Since then, one of my girls proved to be a broody hen and has now hatched her second nest since early spring. One of the eggs that was left at the end of the most recent hatch is still viable and it's in my incubator. The hen had lost interest in the egg so I brought it in (she is now focused on the 5 live biddies)-- the other eggs hatched from Friday afternoon through Sat early evening. I brought the egg inside on Sunday later afternoon, it is now 6am Monday.

So my question. I have candled and marked the egg. The chick had internal pip when I brought her in the house Saturday at 3pm, don't know how long she's had internal pip altogether. She chirps when I tap on the egg lightly, and there is movement within the egg. But there is no external pip. The article doesn't state what the waiting period should be for this set of circumstances, and the main question is, how long does the air cell last, and when therefore should I put in the first external pip in hopes she takes over?

Thank you for your help. The situation is complicated because I already had guinea eggs in the incubator, with the automatic turner. Now I have the chicken egg in there too, but I've been checking it every 2 hours for fear the chick would hatch out and be caught in the turner. My intention is to rush the chick out to the broody hen as soon as she is hatched-- the broody has already shown great acceptance for a chick that was ill so I have no doubt she will accept the late chick. If and when it's determined it's time to put in an external pip myself, I will then be hovering over the egg.
 
Last edited:
Victoria-nola said:
I have read and re-read the article on helping chicks hatch from the egg several times, and I've successfully helped them when I did 2 different incubations last year. Since then, one of my girls proved to be a broody hen and has now hatched her second nest since early spring. One of the eggs that was left at the end of the most recent hatch is still viable and it's in my incubator. The hen had lost interest in the egg so I brought it in (she is now focused on the 5 live biddies)-- the other eggs hatched from Friday afternoon through Sat early evening. I brought the egg inside on Sunday later afternoon, it is now 6am Monday.

So my question. I have candled and marked the egg. The chick had internal pip when I brought her in the house Saturday at 3pm, don't know how long she's had internal pip altogether. She chirps when I tap on the egg lightly, and there is movement within the egg. But there is no external pip. The article doesn't state what the waiting period should be for this set of circumstances, and the main question is, how long does the air cell last, and when therefore should I put in the first external pip in hopes she takes over?

Thank you for your help. The situation is complicated because I already had guinea eggs in the incubator, with the automatic turner. Now I have the chicken egg in there too, but I've been checking it every 2 hours for fear the chick would hatch out and be caught in the turner. My intention is to rush the chick out to the broody hen as soon as she is hatched-- the broody has already shown great acceptance for a chick that was ill so I have no doubt she will accept the late chick. If and when it's determined it's time to put in an external pip myself, I will then be hovering over the egg.
Click to expand...
@MotorcycleChick ?

If it were me, I'd probably put in a safety hole---just a tiny one, about pinhole size. More can dry out the membrane.
 
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