Foam from hatching chick egg

[Mel P]

I couldn't find this in any of the other topics.

I am hatching a batch now and have had only had two issues.

One pecked a hole that had some blood then died and one that I saw foam (just a small amount) coming from the openings of the shell. It hatched on its own like the others, but I had to rinse it off because it was drying stiff (like egg whites do). It seems to be fine now and the only way I can still tell a difference is the top of its head(that I couldn't rinse well) is still stiff instead of fluffy.

What makes that happen and does it mean the chick isn't health, etc.

Thank you!

 

[flnatv]

 

[pips&peeps]

It just means the humidity was high during incubation, if they make it out alive they will usually be ok. The foam stuff usually will cover their head and suffocate them.

 

[Mel P]

Thanks. I did open the shell a tiny bit because I was affraid of that, but my hatch rate is around 80% and healthy so I didn't understand why this one was like that.

 

[pips&peeps]

If the egg was a bit bigger than the rest, it can happen.

 

[Mel P]

Thanks for the post, but all the eggs were about the same size and laid within just 2-3 days of each other. It's about 36 hours old now and seems to be fine. I just thought it was wierd and wondered how to prevent it next time since it looked like it could sufficate in the shell.