well, my big BO hatched out 2 chicks just fine, and it looked as if she stepped on one... I Saw it this morning when I opened the coop (about 7:00 AM) and mom and the 2 chicks were up eating, the top was smashed in pretty bad, but I saw beak, and saw it was breathing, so I went back inside to wait and see if it could get out on its own. I was a bit scared to try and help, and kinda wanted to see if it was strong enough to accomplish the task on its own.
About 10:00 AM, she had made no progress, and was peeping a lot, so I intervened. here is a pic when I got the egg out from under her.
I used my pocket knife to gently chip away at the shell and the membrane. It took a little while, but I finally got the top of the egg off.
She wiggled a little bit, and then straightened out her neck. She was wiggling a lot trying to get out, and at this point, it didn't take her long at all. I didn't want to pull the shell the rest of the way off for fear of breaking the umbilical cord and causing problems. She wiggled out on her own from here.
I have never done this before, I was scared that I was hurting more than helping...
When she got out, I snapped a quick pic of her, and lifted mom up and placed her under and crossed my fingers
I went and checked on her after an hour or so, I lifted moms wing and there she was, almost fully fluffed out and standing there looking at me
Went out just a few minutes ago, (of course I didn't have the camera) and she was out in front of mom, peeping at me
she came up and jumped in my hand, looked at me, peeped as if to say "thanks", and hopped down and crawled back under mom.
I thought I would share this little story, this is my first time ever hatching eggs... That was scary, but turned out very very well.
About 10:00 AM, she had made no progress, and was peeping a lot, so I intervened. here is a pic when I got the egg out from under her.
I used my pocket knife to gently chip away at the shell and the membrane. It took a little while, but I finally got the top of the egg off.
She wiggled a little bit, and then straightened out her neck. She was wiggling a lot trying to get out, and at this point, it didn't take her long at all. I didn't want to pull the shell the rest of the way off for fear of breaking the umbilical cord and causing problems. She wiggled out on her own from here.
I have never done this before, I was scared that I was hurting more than helping...
When she got out, I snapped a quick pic of her, and lifted mom up and placed her under and crossed my fingers
I went and checked on her after an hour or so, I lifted moms wing and there she was, almost fully fluffed out and standing there looking at me
Went out just a few minutes ago, (of course I didn't have the camera) and she was out in front of mom, peeping at me
I thought I would share this little story, this is my first time ever hatching eggs... That was scary, but turned out very very well.
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