egg damaged by other chicks in the hatcher...

I left the house today around 1pm, with 3 freshly hatched chicks (1 dorking, 1 ee, 1 bantam mutt) and 1 ee egg left to pip/hatch.

when i got home, the ee looked like someone had seriously smashed it.



i drew in pencil where the air cell had been damaged from shipping, prior to incubation so i could follow it's progress, and it had internally pipped before i left. all i can think of is that it pipped while i was gone and the others were 'helping' it hatch faster?

the chick is breathing and peeping occasionally, and the others have been moved to the brooder, even tho they weren't totally fluffed yet, but seem to be doing ok. (the EE is a loudmouth incessant peeper, was huge and stuck so i assisted)

I've cranked up the humidity a bit more, but wondering if there's anything else i can do for the little guy that hasn't hatched yet...

edit: i reviewed the webcam pics (taken 1 every minute) and it looks like the ee pipped around 2:30 and they started peeling shell off pretty quick after. within an hour the hole was about 1/2", an hour later about 2/3 the size it is now, and by 5:30 had a huge crack along the side like someone tried to smoosh it.

 

well i kept monitoring the egg. he peeped quite a bit, and kept pushing. you could see the membrane was torn but not enough to let him out. the peeping got a bit more frantic, then started to fade off, so i decided to help. glad i did.

i started by openning where the membrane was already torn, thinking i'd find a beak. i found a back. so i went toward the air cell, and found more back. ok... so i went down toward the point a bit, found a wing, pointing the WRONG WAY... hm. kept moistening the membrane, checking for blood vessels (there were none thankfully) and picking bits of shell off the membrane before folding it out of the way. figured at this point, he was upside down.

next thing i found wasn't a beak. it was a foot! HUH? he's got a foot on the wrong end, or his wings are on backwards??

by the time i found the foot he gave a huge shove, and about fell out of my hand. he'd tried hatching with his head down between his feet. (hubby had to make a comment about having his head up his a$$... ) there was no alternative but to let him unfold. no idea how he survived as long as he did, unless the other chicks DID help when they peeled off the shell, so he could breathe. the muscle at the back of his neck was HUGE! almost as large as his whole head. it's shrunk down some, but not entirely yet.

the yolk sac had been absorbed but there was still a bit of open belly-button, so I left his feet/butt in the shell, wrapped him in a clean washcloth and put him inside a small cup to keep him upright. he could move his head and wings and feet, but couldn't get out, so basically kept him still as possible for a bit. couple hours later i let him out of the cup, into a foil pan with towel over it (still in the incubator), and a rolled up pair of socks and a rolled washcloth as 'bumpers' to keep him confined but let him move a bit more. no bleeding, the navel is nearly closed, and he's not falling over sideways or backwards anymore.

here's a pic of him about 10 minutes ago...



he's still sitting with his feet pushed out towards his head, but that's how he was in the egg too, so i'm hoping with some movement they'll come around normally. he'll go in the brooder in the morning. time will tell how he gets along.

 

Quote:he went to the brooder this morning. he's still not walking great, still 'tripod'ing (sitting on his butt with legs stretched out forward) but he's starting to walk a bit more normal. the other one i helped hatch yesterday did the same thing in the hatcher but is walking normally today (wasn't shrink wrapped, but huge and couldn't turn - in brooder for 12+ hours).

 

Quote:yeah he does look a bit stubborn in that pic. LOL but isn't as loud/needy as his sib i helped out yesterday... that one never shuts up!