Hands on hatching and help

[Redhead Rae]

Oliv

I need to help a chick out but don’t have any coconut oil or bacitracin. Is there anything else I can use besides water?

olive, vegetable, grape seed oils? Any food grade oil or Vaseline.

 

[lazylizzy]

Hello, I may need help.

I have an egg that had a hairline crack when received, which I sealed with candle wax. Roughly 30 hours ago, I noticed a crack part of the way around the egg (4 have hatched, 4 eggs remain). I am wondering if it is time for me to intervene?

 

[ArchBarn28]

Maybe I missed it with the thousand or so posts but do you have a photo of the different abnormal positions a chick, gosling etc... get themselves in? I'm having trouble identifying whats what and what goes where?
Thanks! Great posts! Very informative information!!!

 

[chickenlady63]

My first incubator hatch...started yesterday early morning. I have 10 of 14 hatched at this point. Starting to get worried about remaining chicks. One particular chick has beak hole and I believe is still eating. Appears to be opening and closing mouth with no sound. I did remove very small amount of shell around beak area and decided it needed more time????? No bleeding but thought I saw veins still present. I applied the coconut oil as directed and now worried. Please advise?? Chick has been visible since last evening (day 21).

 

[Redhead Rae]

I would leave any eggs that haven’t pipped externally alone. I’ve never had a good outcome helping a chick that didn’t pip on its own. With the chick that has pipped on its own, you can try peeling the egg and membrane back towards the air cell as long as there is no bleeding. There is an inner membrane and an outer membrane. The outer membrane is white. The inner membrane is clear. You need to peel back both. Stop if you see blood.

 

[blaccko]

Hello,

I've been incubating 6 Orpington eggs. Only one made it to lockdown. I, therefore, care a lot for it. My 21st day ended yesterday (June 3rd) at 8:30 pm. I candles the egg and it seems like it was internally piped. I saw his little beack into the air pocket.

I made a small hole at the top of the air pocket and let the egg in the incubator for he night. This morning, still nothing, no external piping. I candled and saw that it was still alive and in the air pocket.

Now, at noon, it's the same situation as this morning. I don't know how long it had been since internal piping when I made the safety hole last night. How long can it take between internal piping and external piping? Should I wait until tonight to do anything? Should I start to slowly assist and remove the eggshell over the air pocket? I really don't want loose him. I'm afraid that if I do nothing, it will get too weak and die in the shell. Last incubation (it was my first one), two were alive at lockdown and died in the shell during lockdown.

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[Redhead Rae]

I generally don't help chicks unless they pip on their own. I've never had it turn out well (with chicken eggs anyway). If your chicks are DIS (dead in shell) at that late stage, that usually means you are having temperature issues.

If you are so inclined, you can start peeling back the shell over the air cell. If there is blood in the membrane, stop. Have corn starch on hand to stop any bleeding. Follow the guidelines in the following articles.
Guide to Assisted Hatching for All Poultry
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

Please read through them.

Also, try calibrating your incubator before you try hatching again. It sounds like you have temp issues and those are best fixed before you add eggs, since the temperature changes at different periods of incubation are crucial to development.

 

[Exnerk]

Hi everyone. I have a duckling that externally pipped in the wrong end 36 hours ago and I think started zipping but it looks vertical and not horizontal around the egg. I’m going to attach several photos. This is my very first time incubating. I don’t know what to do.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Hi everyone. I have a duckling that externally pipped in the wrong end 36 hours ago and I think started zipping but it looks vertical and not horizontal around the egg. I’m going to attach several photos. This is my very first time incubating. I don’t know what to do.

@WVduckchick @Pyxis

 

[Exnerk]

@WVduckchick @Pyxis

I was too worried last night because I wasn’t confident in how to properly assist a hatch. But I am excited to say that early this morning, we have a newly hatched baby duckling!!