Health questions on newly hatched chick (assisted hatch)

[dxmecho]

Hi everyone! Our hen laid her first egg and we incubated it. We had issues with the humidity and it wasn't high enough, so the membrane had dried and we had to assist it on day 21 (12 hours after it first pipped).

It's a serama bantam chick, so I think it actually might be a bit late of a hatching and should've hatched earlier, but I'm not sure.

I know chicks should be okay for up to three days after hatching without food or water readily available if they're staying in the incubator, but my dad was worried about it being dehydrated since it came out semi-late and due to the shrink wrapped membrane.

I dipped the tip of its beak a bit in water via a bottle cap, though I'm not sure if it drank much. I returned it to the incubator fairly quickly because I didn't want to have it out for too long seeing as its feathers haven't dried yet.

As of posting this, it's been about 5-6 hours since we helped it out of the egg. It's making plenty of noise and moving around with rest periods. Any advice would be helpful!

For now I'm just letting it dry as it walks around the incubator. It doesn't seem to be having too much issue with the egg turner/tray still being in there, but I'm keeping watch in case its legs get stuck or anything like that. Once it dries, we have a brooder box ready with a heat plate and water + crumble/starter.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

It's a serama bantam chick, so I think it actually might be a bit late of a hatching and should've hatched earlier, but I'm not sure.

Nope, day 21 is correct. Some lines will hatch earlier consistently.

(12 hours after it first pipped).

It can take up to 24 hours after pip before they start unzipping. Was the yolk sac absorbed completely?

As of posting this, it's been about 5-6 hours since we helped it out of the egg. It's making plenty of noise and moving around with rest periods.

Let it be until it's completely dry and has it's land legs under it.

Once it dries, we have a brooder box ready with a heat plate and water + crumble/starter.

What about a friend to help it thrive?

Is that leg recovering and staying under the chick or is it staying splayed?

Welcome to BYC and congrats on your hatch!

If it hasn't dried off and fluffed up by 6 hours after hatching, then it may have egg stuff sticking it's feathers down to it. Can you tell if it's actually dry but not fluffed?

 

[dxmecho]

Thank you so much for the reply and the warm welcome!

Nope, day 21 is correct. Some lines will hatch earlier consistently.

It can take up to 24 hours after pip before they start unzipping. Was the yolk sac absorbed completely?

I'm not sure if the yolk sack was fully absorbed; when we were helping it, there was something small that looked like it could've been unabsorbed yolk My dad wanted to hurry because he thought it might end up suffocating, but I fear we might've helped it too early.

What about a friend to help it thrive?

There was another egg that was due to hatch along with this one, but it had seemingly suffocated. I wasn't there for it (was at school for graduation rehearsal) so I'm not entirely sure if that's accurate or not or if my dad may have gotten overzealous, but the other egg had barely pipped but stopped moving and making noise by 24 hours after pipping, and he tried helping that one and opened it up but it was already dead.

There are some other eggs that are going to be hatching in 4-6 days from now though, so hopefully this chick shouldn't be lonely for long!

Is that leg recovering and staying under the chick or is it staying splayed?

The leg in the picture is staying under it and recovering well, and the chick has been sitting up and walking (albeit wobbly) around the incubator. I was initially going to upload a video of it since it's harder to gauge its health from just a picture, but I'll have to upload the video to YouTube or another video platform first to be able to link it to here.

If it hasn't dried off and fluffed up by 6 hours after hatching, then it may have egg stuff sticking it's feathers down to it. Can you tell if it's actually dry but not fluffed?

The feathers do seem dry to the touch and just not fluffed up! I didn't think about that, thanks for bringing it up. Should I gently wash it and put it in the brooder box after it can walk a bit more steadily?

Again, many thanks!