First Time hatching eggs, egg sacks too small

[luvmychickenz]

It has been a long night, with only 2 1/2 sleep for my hubby and I. Third chick is in process of unzipping. But instead of pushing from top to bottom (vertically). It seems he is pushing horizontally. Not sure is this is normal or not. I'm praying that he doesn't wear out when he is almost here like our last little chickie. We still can't figure that out. Everything seemed perfect on him, the way he was positioned, and humidity related. Anyway, will continue to keep posted. 1st chickie seems to be doing great.
Today is day 21 and no other chicks have pipped yet It is a waiting game now.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

My husband had happened to remember a stuffed chick/duck and put it in there about 1 hr ago. He has been snuggling ever since and quiet and calm.
Our second egg externally pipped and has even rocked egg. Here hip chirping. Still fighting with maintaining humidity as needed.

That's good.

My heart is broken. Our second chicken to pip died before hatching. He had begun to unzip actively but then slowed up but I know it can take hours. Took nap from around MN until 2am. Woke up and cold tell he was too still. Touched beak a couple of times and was still. We opened egg he was perfectly formed, membrane was moist but not too wet and came off easily. His yolk sack was absorbed and the umbilicus vessels were fine. What could have caused it? Now we have another who had pipped around 7p. He was rocking and rolling in his egg. He opened a couple of spots and you can see him but now he is very still. Now concerned he will die too. Don't know what to do.

It has been a long night, with only 2 1/2 sleep for my hubby and I. Third chick is in process of unzipping. But instead of pushing from top to bottom (vertically). It seems he is pushing horizontally. Not sure is this is normal or not. I'm praying that he doesn't wear out when he is almost here like our last little chickie. We still can't figure that out. Everything seemed perfect on him, the way he was positioned, and humidity related. Anyway, will continue to keep posted. 1st chickie seems to be doing great.
Today is day 21 and no other chicks have pipped yet

It is a waiting game now.

A chick can take hours up to a day to go from pip to zip, but the zipping stage is pretty fast and shouldn't take more than a half hour. If a chick stalls in the middle of zipping and doesn't regain momentum, it's usually a sign that something is wrong. I use this video and repeat it over and over during the zip to keep the chicks motivated:

Generally my chicks all zip and are out w/in 15-20 if not less once they start the zip line.

It's possible that the little one that died had something going on internally that you couldn't see, or exhausted itself. At that stage it can be hard to pinpoint if there are no deformities. I'm sorry to hear he died.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

By the way. If the 3rd one hasn't pushed out and is still alive, I would get him out of the egg asap.

 

[ourrune]

It has been a long night, with only 2 1/2 sleep for my hubby and I. Third chick is in process of unzipping. But instead of pushing from top to bottom (vertically). It seems he is pushing horizontally. Not sure is this is normal or not. I'm praying that he doesn't wear out when he is almost here like our last little chickie. We still can't figure that out. Everything seemed perfect on him, the way he was positioned, and humidity related. Anyway, will continue to keep posted. 1st chickie seems to be doing great.
Today is day 21 and no other chicks have pipped yet It is a waiting game now.

I am so sorry you lost your chick but congrats on the first one!!! How is the 3rd one now? It sounds like you guys are doing a great job and the best you can. Thanks for a of your help also!!

 

[luvmychickenz]

We end of having to assist #3. He is big and looked a little malpositioned. He couldn't get his neck from around his wing and remained stuck in same position for hours. He had stopped peeping and appeared to be panting. His vessels were all absorbed and what was left of yolk sack fell off on own. He seems to be fine-peeping and even trying walking, getting around incubator. I hope that difficult hatch hasn't stressed him too much.
We read the highly recommended link on assisted hatching and it is so thorough and helpful.
I realize now there are no hard and fast rules. I think #2 exhausted himself even if it wasn't 18-24 hrs from when first pipped. Sometimes it will have to be a judgement call and learning wil come with experience. Still very sad to know some intervention migh have prevented it.
No other pips even though today is day 21. We will watch over next couple days. Thanks for being here!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

We end of having to assist #3. He is big and looked a little malpositioned. He couldn't get his neck from around his wing and remained stuck in same position for hours. He had stopped peeping and appeared to be panting. His vessels were all absorbed and what was left of yolk sack fell off on own. He seems to be fine-peeping and even trying walking, getting around incubator. I hope that difficult hatch hasn't stressed him too much.
We read the highly recommended link on assisted hatching and it is so thorough and helpful.
I realize now there are no hard and fast rules. I think #2 exhausted himself even if it wasn't 18-24 hrs from when first pipped. Sometimes it will have to be a judgement call and learning wil come with experience. Still very sad to know some intervention migh have prevented it.
No other pips even though today is day 21. We will watch over next couple days. Thanks for being here!

There really isn't. Most of it is a judgement call and a catch 22. If you help and they don't make then you wonder if you didn't if they would have made it out themselves and lived. If you don't help and they don't make it then you kick yourself for thinking you should have done something. I try to wait until 18 hours after a pip, but when it comes to zipping if they stop and playing the video doesn't get them going again, I help. Usually if they have started zipping, they are ready to hatch.

 

[chicapee]

We end of having to assist #3. He is big and looked a little malpositioned. He couldn't get his neck from around his wing and remained stuck in same position for hours. He had stopped peeping and appeared to be panting. His vessels were all absorbed and what was left of yolk sack fell off on own. He seems to be fine-peeping and even trying walking, getting around incubator. I hope that difficult hatch hasn't stressed him too much.
We read the highly recommended link on assisted hatching and it is so thorough and helpful.
I realize now there are no hard and fast rules. I think #2 exhausted himself even if it wasn't 18-24 hrs from when first pipped. Sometimes it will have to be a judgement call and learning wil come with experience. Still very sad to know some intervention migh have prevented it.
No other pips even though today is day 21. We will watch over next couple days. Thanks for being here!

so sorry that you lost one. Congratulations on the 2 that have hatched. Sound like you are doing a great job.

 

[luvmychickenz]

Chickie #3 still has thin yellow yolk cord attached to his umbilicus, about 1/2" long. There were never any unabsorbed vessels or any bleeding. Is there anything I should do. He seems to be doing great! Much stronger than #1 was at his age. I am trying to get a feel for their personalities a little more before I name them.
The incubator was all smeared with post hatch yuck and poopie and smelling yucky. I had to remove the cheesecloth and replace with paper towels and more water for humanity. We have 2 hygrometers in addition to the LG's that I don't believe ever worked. Maintaining humidity was so very difficult, even before having to help last chick.
I am so heartsick

-I am pretty sure that the rest of the eggs did not make it. I quickly candled them when changed out liner in bator and I don't believe any of them survived. We are keeping the bator going because I know they can hatch late, but I didn't get any movement.

I have to tell you AmyLynn, I just don't think I can keep up with the LG. You are amazing to be able to do what you do to make it work! First we had too much humidity which did much damage, then when we needed it high, we couldn't maintain it. I just cannot believe, living here in Louisiana, that it should be so difficult to maintain a consistent high humidity. I don't know what else could have made this happen. I knew we were working on borrowed time, but when we had 3 begin their hatch, I was sure at least 1 or 2 more would follow. Over 40 eggs and only 2, especially when so many had been developing and alive, is just devastating to me.

Thank you again for all of your support and encouragement, AmyLynn and Chicapee!

We would probably not had 2 successful hatches without your advice. I would appreciate your advice on the umbilical attachment.

Blessings and peace.

 

[luvmychickenz]

I would have never thought to play a video. I can put my iPhone right over the plexiglass of the bator so that the chickies can hear. Thank you for the creative advice. I will definitely use in future.

 

[luvmychickenz]

Words of wisdom. I need to remind my self of that.