Half Shell Hatch-A-Long! (Caution, unsuccessful, please read whole thread before attempting)

[Clap p 1]

@MGG
So I would have said a Q-tip too. After thinking and looking around maybe try these:
Warm the ointment up in the palm of your washed hand, or in a clean little cup, or some kind of small container that you can warm on a hot wet rag....or something... (no microwave)
Then use your clean pinky (nail trimmed short) to gently apply the melted/soft ointment.

Or, maybe wad up a small square of cotton fabric/ clean t-shirt material to make a "q-tip" and use that to apply.
Or maybe wet your Q-tip first in hot water to help bond the fuzzies first, then dab and use.

Look around and I'll bet you have something soft, smooth, and washable sitting around that could double as your q-tip/finger tip.

@Clap p 1
Yep, baby just needs some time. I had one like that before so something to be aware of...when it starts trying to push out, you may need to assist it through the membrane. Since it is exposed, even with coconut oil on it, it (the membrane) could become hard and more difficult for baby to kick out.
Wait though until it is apparent baby cannot kick out on it's own.
Sit on your hands if you have to!!

Thank you for the input. At least I haven't killed him yet. If I say him, that means it will be a rooster right. Just like if you say she, it's a hen.

 

[MGG]

@MGG
So I would have said a Q-tip too. After thinking and looking around maybe try these:
Warm the ointment up in the palm of your washed hand, or in a clean little cup, or some kind of small container that you can warm on a hot wet rag....or something... (no microwave)
Then use your clean pinky (nail trimmed short) to gently apply the melted/soft ointment.

Or, maybe wad up a small square of cotton fabric/ clean t-shirt material to make a "q-tip" and use that to apply.
Or maybe wet your Q-tip first in hot water to help bond the fuzzies first, then dab and use.

Look around and I'll bet you have something soft, smooth, and washable sitting around that could double as your q-tip/finger tip.

@Clap p 1
Yep, baby just needs some time. I had one like that before so something to be aware of...when it starts trying to push out, you may need to assist it through the membrane. Since it is exposed, even with coconut oil on it, it (the membrane) could become hard and more difficult for baby to kick out.
Wait though until it is apparent baby cannot kick out on it's own.
Sit on your hands if you have to!!

Thank you! Those are good ideas. I will see what I can find. Do you think I need to apply it on all of them? It really clouded up the membrane, and it's hard to see through now. #1 looks perfect, totally clear membrane, nice big active chick, no white or anything on the membrane. I think since it's day 15 for that one maybe just leave well enough alone? I'm going to put a little slit in the membrane of day 17 for air. #2 is the one I opened the air cell on. It's impossible to see anything on that one, except for membrane. It's the one with some gooey white stuff on the membrane (probably bacteria). FC said to toss it... but I wanted to give it a chance. I put the ointment on it and put it in my other incubator. Day 15 also.
#3 looks pretty good. Almost as good as #1, but there's a few tiny white dots on the membrane in that one. I put ointment on them. Hopefully they go away. Day 14 for this one.
#4 is super cloudy now since that's the one I tried putting ointment on. It looks decent other than that. Day 13.
I don't know. What do you think?
Edited to add : all 3 look way better than ET at this stage.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Thank you for the input. At least I haven't killed him yet. If I say him, that means it will be a rooster right. Just like if you say she, it's a hen.

I called mine Lil' Dude for the longest time (because mine was runty) but it looks like Lil' Dudette is more appropriate. Or LD, which will probably become Eldy (el-de)

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Thank you! Those are good ideas. I will see what I can find. Do you think I need to apply it on all of them? It really clouded up the membrane, and it's hard to see through now. #1 looks perfect, totally clear membrane, nice big active chick, no white or anything on the membrane. I think since it's day 15 for that one maybe just leave well enough alone? I'm going to put a little slit in the membrane of day 17 for air. #2 is the one I opened the air cell on. It's impossible to see anything on that one, except for membrane. It's the one with some gooey white stuff on the membrane (probably bacteria). FC said to toss it... but I wanted to give it a chance. I put the ointment on it and put it in my other incubator. Day 15 also.
#3 looks pretty good. Almost as good as #1, but there's a few tiny white dots on the membrane in that one. I put ointment on them. Hopefully they go away. Day 14 for this one.
#4 is super cloudy now since that's the one I tried putting ointment on. It looks decent other than that. Day 13.
I don't know. What do you think?

Hmm, well moisture is very important. And I know from an assisted hatch that even with ointment and coconut oil the membrane can still harden up and need to be peeled open for baby to get out, so I guess I would weight the benefits of proper moisture vs visibility.
The goal is for baby to survive, so weigh that too.

What ointment..neosporin?

 

[MGG]

Hmm, well moisture is very important. And I know from an assisted hatch that even with ointment and coconut oil the membrane cal still harden up and need to be peeled open for baby to get out, so I guess I would weight the benefits of proper moisture vs visibility.
The goal is for baby to survive, so weigh that too.

What ointment..neosporin?

Triple Antibiotic Ointment. Humidity is currently at 72% in there. I don't know. I mean, here's ET at their age. Full of bacteria.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Dunno kiddo.
I don't remember exactly what all you did with ET, but think about what you did/didn't do and how you make that different for these. Whenever I have questions about something unusual I tend to research it to bits. I know this experiment doesn't have a lot of info on it, so whatever you do take copious notes!
Maybe on the clear ones leave them alone and continue with whatever you are doing with them.... and on the cloudy/ointment applied ones keep doing that. Compare the results and see if/how it makes a difference.

When hatch time comes will you be able to stay up all night if need be to assist with the hatch? The reason I ask is because on my first incubated hatch I opted to keep things a little dryer during the first 18 days and knew it might mean helping them hatch when the time came. I had planned to be awake for the whole hatch (all 18 eggs) And it paid off because I had to assist 2 of them for dry/tough membranes. Lockdown humidity was about 72%
Lil' Dud mentioned above was one of them.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

I did show your last set of pics to my kiddo because we did the candling together on our hatch and watched some CGI fast motion videos on chick development. It was cool to see the actual chick in the egg and know now where in development that is.

 

[MGG]

Dunno kiddo.
I don't remember exactly what all you did with ET, but think about what you did/didn't do and how you make that different for these. Whenever I have questions about something unusual I tend to research it to bits. I know this experiment doesn't have a lot of info on it, so whatever you do take copious notes!
Maybe on the clear ones leave them alone and continue with whatever you are doing with them.... and on the cloudy/ointment applied ones keep doing that. Compare the results and see if/how it makes a difference.

When hatch time comes will you be able to stay up all night if need be to assist with the hatch? The reason I ask is because on my first incubated hatch I opted to keep things a little dryer during the first 18 days and knew it might mean helping them hatch when the time came. I had planned to be awake for the whole hatch (all 18 eggs) And it paid off because I had to assist 2 of them for dry/tough membranes. Lockdown humidity was about 72%
Lil' Dud mentioned above was one of them.

Ok. That makes sense. Yes, I can stay up all night. I have many times before. I can even set up a bed in the basement (by my incubator) and wake up every hour or whatever. I've made lots of notes.
What I did with ET was I used a lot of coconut oil in the last week. It had gotten some bacteria in it. Humidity was a lot lower as well, around 45%. It hasn't gone below 60% this time. I incubated at 20% for the first week until I opened them though so they would lose as much moisture as possible then. Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[MGG]

I did show your last set of pics to my kiddo because we did the candling together on our hatch and watched some CGI fast motion videos on chick development. It was cool to see the actual chick in the egg and know now where in development that is.

Oh awesome! I'm glad. They are pretty cool. Right now I'm really hoping at least #1 hatches, because I love the down color on that one. I hope at least 2 chicks hatch though, I hate brooding single chicks.

 

[Clap p 1]

I called mine Lil' Dude for the longest time (because mine was runty) but it looks like Lil' Dudette is more appropriate. Or LD, which will probably become Eldy (el-de)

Oh awesome! I'm glad. They are pretty cool. Right now I'm really hoping at least #1 hatches, because I love the down color on that one. I hope at least 2 chicks hatch though, I hate brooding single chicks.

Hey MTG you there

I honestly think it is correctly positioned. You're just too excited. You need to be patient or you're going to end up killing it. Give it another 5 hours or so and check again. The veins look like they're almost done. Can you see it making and yawning/chewing motions?

why is the chewing/yawning motions important?? He's doing that now and blood is barely there.