- Oct 23, 2016
- 9
- 4
- 62
One of our hens became broody and we knew it was about time for them to begin hatching so we went to go check up on things. When we checked on her there were a couple of eggs that seem to maybe be a cause of concern.
The first egg seemed to have been stepped on by then hen or maybe pecked by another chicken? There is blood present and seems to be more cracks than is normal for hatching. The chick is still moving and small peeps can be heard every once in a while. The membrane is torn around the chick's beak.
The Second of the two eggs had a normal small hole in the top of the egg, but lack of movement and sound lead us to look a little further. Upon looking in the hole we found what looked like a white mass bunched towards the bottom of the egg; like the membrane has been shrinkwrapped to the chick. At first, we thought the chick had already passed and we broke off a small portion of the shell that seemed dry and far from the chick itself. Then we noticed movement and added some moisture to help the chick along. The membrane is in no way torn, it just seems to be drying up rather quickly.
We don't own any sort of incubator, but we do have a heating lamp for chicks we've gotten in the past. I don't know what our course would be for giving these chicks their best go. They seem to be too fragile to put back under the mother especially as the one seems to have had an accident in the coop, but I don't know if the heating lamp would be able to give them the right kind of conditions that they need. Should we just set them under the heat and keep an eye on them? Or give them back to their mother? Does either one look like they need help, or is it just a waiting game like most chick hatchings seem to be? I'm just not sure what to do. I'm clearly not well experienced in the hatching of chicks and any advice would be so helpful.
The first egg seemed to have been stepped on by then hen or maybe pecked by another chicken? There is blood present and seems to be more cracks than is normal for hatching. The chick is still moving and small peeps can be heard every once in a while. The membrane is torn around the chick's beak.
The Second of the two eggs had a normal small hole in the top of the egg, but lack of movement and sound lead us to look a little further. Upon looking in the hole we found what looked like a white mass bunched towards the bottom of the egg; like the membrane has been shrinkwrapped to the chick. At first, we thought the chick had already passed and we broke off a small portion of the shell that seemed dry and far from the chick itself. Then we noticed movement and added some moisture to help the chick along. The membrane is in no way torn, it just seems to be drying up rather quickly.
We don't own any sort of incubator, but we do have a heating lamp for chicks we've gotten in the past. I don't know what our course would be for giving these chicks their best go. They seem to be too fragile to put back under the mother especially as the one seems to have had an accident in the coop, but I don't know if the heating lamp would be able to give them the right kind of conditions that they need. Should we just set them under the heat and keep an eye on them? Or give them back to their mother? Does either one look like they need help, or is it just a waiting game like most chick hatchings seem to be? I'm just not sure what to do. I'm clearly not well experienced in the hatching of chicks and any advice would be so helpful.