Help!!! Assisted hatching

HuskerChickMom

Songster
7 Years
Apr 3, 2017
80
30
121
I have abroody hen sitting on six eggs. Two hatched yesterday on day 21 and a third had pipped externally but has not made much progress at all in 18 hours. It is still peeping, but the membrane was getting pretty dry so I brought it in and wet the membrane with a warm wet cloth. I then tried to break away a bit of the shell around the zip line that the chick had started, but then it bled a little so I stopped and put it back under mom. I'm worried I really hurt it and I'm not sure what to do now! Any advise? This is my first hatch and iv'e been trying to do everything right by following threads on here, but think I may have messed up completely
 
I have abroody hen sitting on six eggs. Two hatched yesterday on day 21 and a third had pipped externally but has not made much progress at all in 18 hours. It is still peeping, but the membrane was getting pretty dry so I brought it in and wet the membrane with a warm wet cloth. I then tried to break away a bit of the shell around the zip line that the chick had started, but then it bled a little so I stopped and put it back under mom. I'm worried I really hurt it and I'm not sure what to do now! Any advise? This is my first hatch and iv'e been trying to do everything right by following threads on here, but think I may have messed up completely
You did the right thing in stopping. Whenever you see blood during an assist you need to stop. But the bleeding does not mean you hurt or killed it. Wait a bit go out and check. When you do an assist it is important to go very slowly. If you do encounter bleeding I have often stopped it with a bit of flour or a septic pencil. Use tweezers and just take very small bits of shell at a time. If you can take off she'll without taking the membrane that is all the better. Once you can see the membrane without the show you can also see all of the veins and blood vessels. at that point what are usually do is take a Q-tip with warm water and slowly work that membrane and try to quiet off the blood vessels by gently rolling the Q-tip back-and-forth over the veins. Once the veins look like they have clot it off then you can start to push that membrane back. But again if bleeding starts you need to stop and take a break. Make sure that you're keeping the egg in the chick warm while you're working on this. Also I have found when you do it assist The chick can sometimes be weaker. Sometimes there is a reason they don't hatch on their own. Once the chick hatches you may want to give it a few drops of neutra drench. Just keep a close eye on it once you put it back under mom.
 
Thank you! I'm going to check on it in just a little while. Mama gets very agitated when I try to look at her babies and I don't want her to accidentally hurt it either. I noticed it is trying to get out close to the pouted end which is another reason why I thought it may need help. I'm so attatched to these little chicks that I'd hate to lose one because of something I did wrong! These forums have been a great help though!!
 
Still hasn't hatched I have most of the shell off and peeled a bit of the membrane off. The chick is alive and still peeping. Should I peel of more membrane? It's been almost 12 hours since I started assisting.
 
This is a tough call. It's hard to say without seeing what is happening. You may want to make a line in the membrane where the chick would have zipped, but let the chick push itself out of the egg. Keep us posted.
 
I will try that! I have been trying to go really slow and let the chick do as much of it as possible but I'm worried that it's not positioned right because it pipped closer to the pointed end of the egg.
 
If it were me I would take a q tip and moisten the membrane and slowly work it off the chick. As you moisten the membrane you should be able to see if blood is clotted off. If you can push the membrane off the chick without a lot of bleeding then do it. I have had a lot of success with this. This chick may be too exhausted to finish in which case it will die if you don't intervene. If it is not hatching because there is something wrong with it it may not survive either way but if you don't intervene it definitely won't. Just be prepared that if there is something wrong with it you may have to cull it or let nature take its course. Personally I do assist. If it is going to die either way I'd rather give it every possible chance. Good luck.
 
Well I helped it out of its shell. Baby is exhausted But peeping its head off. The butt is pretty bloody though. Is this normal or possibly a defect?
 
There is usually some blood from the umbilical cord. If it is not actively bleeding it's fine. If it is bleeding apply slight pressure until it stops. You may want to give the chicks a few drops of nutra drench or poli vi sol WITHOUT iron. Prefer nutra drench. It will give the chick a bit of a jumpstart to recover from a long hatch. You should know in 24 hours how it's gonna do.
 
Thank you! I will get some of that in the morning. I put him back under mama and she accepted him. He's pretty lethargic but shafted peeping again once he heard his siblings. The bleeding didn't last long so I'm hoping he recovers! Going to be a long night!!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom