Help ASAP.... help chick from egg??

[grullablue]

Posting for someone I know... she had a chick hatch today (21 days), hen accidentally broke another egg. Membrane is broken, chick can be viewed, it's alive. Fingertip sized hole. Due to the circumstances, should the chick be helped or left alone to try to hatch on its own?

 

[Buugette]

Unless in distress... let her hatch on her own... but keep and eye on it.

 

[emvickrey]

ditto

 

[grullablue]

I kinda thought so, but I myself have never hatched eggs, so I'm not qualified to say....

 

[Lucysmom002]

Thank you for posting this for me! I just signed up. I went out and checked the chick, it was beginning to become shrink wrapped in the egg. It was peeping so we picked it out. I don't think it would've made it out of there on it's own. I hope we did the right thing. We just got our first chickens last year in March. This is our first experience with hatching eggs. We had a broody hen so a 4H kid gave us some fertile eggs for her to sit on. She's being a great mom so far.
Thank you everyone. Please cross fingers.
Cheryl

 

[britsngrits]

The first time I had eggs in my incubator I didn't realize the water trays had empited. It was dry as the Sahara in there! Anyway I did wind up having to help mine hatch as the membrane stuck to them and made it impossible for some to hatch. I lost a couple because I was afraid to help at first... but once I got the hang of it, they all made it. For some I just wet a q-tip and dabbed it on the membrane to loosten it up and the chick would do the rest on its own. Others I had to help more... there is not a lot worse hearing their soft peeps get less and less frequent and loosing them. I've decided that for me (others will disagree) I would rather help and have the chick than not. Best of luck to you!

 

[TeamChaos]

Fingers crossed indeed! I had my first broodies this year and had a similar situation- except it was me and not a clumsy hen who cracked the egg *sigh* I gave it time and the chick pipped, gave it more time and found that the chick had completely broken away the hard part of the shell but was still stuck in the sack. I brought it in the house, wrapped the sack in moist paper towels and put it under a heat lamp. I gave it even *more* time and kept the membrane moist. Almost 24 hours to the minute from when I noticed the pip, the chick broke free of it's membrane in my hand (I was wrapping it in a fresh damp towel and the little one did a big stretch and *ta da* there was a chicken) It took quite a while to get the membrane completely off and I kept "helping" by moistening it so the chick could work it off. It's been about 2 weeks and our little one is still going strong. I wish you and yours the best of luck!!

 

[Lucysmom002]

Good morning! I went out and checked right away, the baby is okay so far! Sure looked like a wet noodle last night but is a nice dry baby chick this morning! Miss Broody (Kiddy) is a Rhode Island Red bantam and she has two Black Austalorp babies. HA

So, now the other chick is 24 hours old. I put them where they can get to food and water this morning. Mama broody picked at the food a little but she's more concerned about keeping the babies warm. My question is, at what point do I need to be SURE these babies are eating. I did put them in the food on the ground right in front of mama and tapped my finger, the older one was watching her eat and pecked once. I dipped his little beak in the water too but he just crawled back under mama's wing.

Thank you for your support! I'm going to love this group and will probably have more questions! Thanks Angie for referring me to this group also! (Angie and I know each other from a horse group)

 

[Willie647]

I helped one too a while back with my nephew standing behind me all the way saying not to do that ....etc,etc. Chick was fine and would not have made it on her own. Now she is a big hen and the most loving bird we have. She just loves to be held and will sit still and sleep for a long as you can hold her. She is a sweetheart!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Lucysmom, mama hen will bring chicks out when it's time to eat and drink she knows how to do it all, you just need to sit back and watch. Congratulations!!!
forgot my manners