Four days since first hatch. Should I open up this egg?

[yakitori]

Is there an alternative to coconut oil? We don’t currently have some at our house.

Any kind of plant based oil would work. But, coconut oil is great for its anti bacterial properties. make sure to work with really clean hands and tools

 

[Oncoming Storm]

Any kind of plant based oil would work. But, coconut oil is great for it’s anti bacterial properties. make sure to work with really clean hands and tools

Thank you!

 

[yakitori]

oh, I want to add incase it was unclear, and say that would want to open up the *outer* member and the shell in the aircell portion to access the *inner* membrane. Don’t pierce the inner membrane! It’s the inner membrane you want to apply the oil to... just a little bit on a q tip... be very gentle

once you can see where the beak is, you should be able to make a small air hole in the inner membrane, avoiding any blood vessels.

honestly, I would worry that even if she did hatch, she would have other health issues. I had a late hatcher that pipped early, but for whatever reason took forever to zip. she eventually did make it, but is evidently much weaker than the others.

Now it’s been 24 hours, and she’s still not quite dry very sleepy as well.

 

[yakitori]

If there is bleeding, stop right away and dab it with a dry tissue. If she’s still alive... once she has air, I would put her back and wait for the blood vessels to recede.

On the other hand, if there are no blood vessels (completely clear membrane), then you can proceed to assist further.

 

[yakitori]

It’s also very yolky so I’m pretty sure it’s underdeveloped, so I think it’s safe to say it’s dead. It’s disappointing because we swear we heard chirps. Guess it was just an appliance or something.

Ah, sorry to hear
At least now you have closure. waiting 4 days must have been quite stressful...

 

[yakitori]

I think it's normal to have quite a bit of yolk left when it first pips. What I learned was that the last bit of yolk is absorbed after the embryo switches over to lung respiration. lung breathing creates contractions that help draw in the last of the yolk.

So... I'm guessing what may have happened was that it tried to pip internally, but didn't manage to hit the air cell, nor did it manage to break the external shell which would have potentially given it air (like those that pip the wrong end). In the end it simply suffocated. Just a guess, I'm no expert and am just learning myself...

 

[yakitori]

That sounds pretty likely. But I got three out of four, which is my best so far, so I’ll take the victories over the loss. Still sucks though.

75% hatch rate isn't too bad
Enjoy your adorable little fluff butts <3