First hatch (questions) stuck at work!

[bootsuu]

Hi y'all!

I got 6 eggs from a lady in town, and 3 of them cracked horribly during an incubator accident. One of them never developed, and one of them candles as being filled by baby chick, but hasn't yet pipped and it's day 21. Should I leave it in for a few more days just in case, or give up on it?

As for the last one, he finally broke out last night and is stumbling around with some shell stuck on it still. Should I help him at all, or will he be okay?

Here's a picture of him out now:

Please let me know your thoughts!

Boots / Bryan

 

[shelleyd2008]

He'll be okay, it takes a while for them to get their sealegs.

Don't open the bator at all for at least a day or 2, the one baby will be fine in there without food for up to 3 days.

You can use a baby hair brush to fluff up the chick, the stuck shell is because humidity was most likely a bit low during the hatch

 

[bootsuu]

Whoops.. Openned it for a second, but didn't let all the heat out, so hopefully he'll be okay. How much do I need to care about humidity now that they're out? Do I still need to keep filling the water tray? I may have forgotten to do that today!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

If it was me an there was only one egg left I might candle it, mark the air sack an open up that end. If it has Internaly piped it would hatch pretty easy after that. Its somthing I only do with the last egg or an egg that for some reason is very important. Mist water in the bator to get the humidity back up.

 

[Mrs Chickens]

I would wait until you are sure the other eggs are not going to hatch, unfortunatly the humidity is key to this and if to low or high they don't normally hatch well if at all - sorry. You can check and hold the egg to your ear if you hear a small tapping or the chcick chipping inside put it back in the incubator V. gently - you have to let nature take it course.

It is very hard to not mess with the eggs the first time you hatch them but if you can leave them alone and only check tempture and humidity it a good practice and will mean less fatlitys.

As to our little friend if she still has shell stuck to her and you want to help her out get some warm water (not hot) and a baby bud or cotton wool just get it damp and very gently brush the feathers around the egg shell slowly removing it.

Do this for about fithteen mins at a time and then if the shell hasn't come off put the chick back into incubator for an hour then start again, don't want her to get to cold. If you pull the shell off as it is you will ineffect pluck the chick alive.

I have done this with just one chick she was covered in goo and shell but she fluffed up fine in the end and is know 5 weeks old and very good looking!!

I would say if you only have one chick see if you can get another one from some where (same age as possble) as one little chicken is a lonely little thing - you will def become its mom and if its a Mr Chicken???

 

[bootsuu]

Thank y'all for your help.

Sidenote: I am now asking for a new incubator / turner for xmas so I can control my heat / humidity better. I'm really enjoying how fun this is! I have a big enough coop / run for more chickens, as well as good contacts on people who want more chickens if I ever get any.

Boots / Bryan

P.S. No one is home right now, so I'll update this once I get home.