My Australorp was hatching her. I don't know when she pipped since I didn't check last night, but this morning she had. She hasn't peeped at all and there's only been movement when I tapped on the egg (she would gently tap back). I wetted it with a rag this morning but there's still been no progress at all and the membrane was solid opaque white, so a little while ago I zipped just a little bit (only the shell--both membranes were intact except that I opened it by her beak.) Then I put the rag around it and stuck it back under the hen. A moment later there was a loud peep and the hen clucked at it (she hasn't been clucking at it at all as far as I've been able to tell.) I got suspicious and checked, and she had smashed the egg somehow.
All the shell where I had zipped (the side of her head) is completely open and the inner membrane around her head is bleeding. The rest of the shell is just hanging on in pieces with the membrane intact (but I can see some pink on the fractures). The shell is completely missing on the small end. The membrane on the small end however is still together but I can see a lot of pink underneath it. The pink doesn't move when I poke the membrane so hopefully those blood vessels aren't broken.
I don't own an incubator and I can't put her back under the broody when she's in this condition (no, I don't trust the hen--she is a terrible broody, but she's the only one that was willing to try). Right now I have the chick/egg lying on a dry rag in a tuna can, with wet rags wrapped around but the face uncovered. It's in a cardboard box with a heat lamp over it and a thermometer next to it. Is there anything else I can do? I don't have an electric heating pad but I have a microwavable one.
She's still breathing strong and opening and closing her beak, but there still isn't any peeping. (But her sister that was born Friday doesn't peep much so it might be genetic.)
edit: okay here's pictures of what I've got so far and of what condition the chick is in:
She is peeping now when I talk to her but as far as movement she's just opening and closing her beak, and breathing. If she hasn't bled to death yet, does that mean she isn't going to? In which case my main concern at this point is how to simulate the temperature/humidity of an incubator with only a cardboard box and a heat lamp? Can anyone give me an offhand estimate of what temperature I should be shooting for?
All the shell where I had zipped (the side of her head) is completely open and the inner membrane around her head is bleeding. The rest of the shell is just hanging on in pieces with the membrane intact (but I can see some pink on the fractures). The shell is completely missing on the small end. The membrane on the small end however is still together but I can see a lot of pink underneath it. The pink doesn't move when I poke the membrane so hopefully those blood vessels aren't broken.
I don't own an incubator and I can't put her back under the broody when she's in this condition (no, I don't trust the hen--she is a terrible broody, but she's the only one that was willing to try). Right now I have the chick/egg lying on a dry rag in a tuna can, with wet rags wrapped around but the face uncovered. It's in a cardboard box with a heat lamp over it and a thermometer next to it. Is there anything else I can do? I don't have an electric heating pad but I have a microwavable one.
She's still breathing strong and opening and closing her beak, but there still isn't any peeping. (But her sister that was born Friday doesn't peep much so it might be genetic.)
edit: okay here's pictures of what I've got so far and of what condition the chick is in:
She is peeping now when I talk to her but as far as movement she's just opening and closing her beak, and breathing. If she hasn't bled to death yet, does that mean she isn't going to? In which case my main concern at this point is how to simulate the temperature/humidity of an incubator with only a cardboard box and a heat lamp? Can anyone give me an offhand estimate of what temperature I should be shooting for?
Last edited:
