Help - Dead Momma during incubation/hatching time

[sumi]

Good luck and fingers crossed!

 

[LisabethBrooke]

I took some pictures just now. This is what I saw.





This is the little guy who doesn't ever peep, but he can sure wiggle around. And when he hears the other two peeping he starts poking his beak through the tiny opening.


This is one of the eggs I'm not very sure about. It doesn't look as though there is anything in there now. Might have been at one point, but I'm not sure. Maybe its still developing? No idea.

This is another angle of the previous egg. I don't see anything in it at all. But it still doesn't stink. Or maybe it does and my allergies are keeping me from smelling it. Maybe I should have someone else smell it.

This is the last egg. When I move it around it looks like it kind of .... sloshes? and bubbles move around in there. So I'm assuming there isn't anything alive in this egg either. You can see one of the bubbles on the edge of the air pocket in this picture.

This is the second little guy who broke through, I'm guessing he will look more along the lines of the Ebden Goose - Which was his momma.

This is the first little guy that broke out. And peeps up a storm. He is a regular old chatter box. I'm guessing he will look more like the Toulouse Goose - Daddy goose.

 

[MistyMountain]

Check here-- Bee hatched chicks from start to finish with a heating pad. She also uses the heating pad as a brooder.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ral-nest-incubation-experiment-1-so-it-begins

 

[sumi]

I took some pictures just now. This is what I saw.




This one may need some assisting, judging by where the pip hole is. Keep an eye on him and check the incubation guide I linked for you in a previous post as well as this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching



You can toss this egg. It appears to have quite somewhere during incubation.

Congrats on the little ones! You did it!

I've added some comments above, below the pics. Good luck with the remainder of the hatch and thank you for sharing! This is awesome

 

[LisabethBrooke]

I've read both of the links. With the black/darker gosling when he crawled out of his shell, there was this slimy stingy stuff that trailed after him. It mostly stayed with the egg and he crawled off to another spot to cuddle down and snooze. When I peaked in at the eggs/goslings again the yellow/light gosling had crawled over and the two hatchlings were cuddling and snoozing. Should I look at the black/darker of the goslings and make sure he isn't bleeding? Or just leave them be and hope everything is fine.

Here is a picture of the stuff I am talking about. The first gosling (darker one) id the shell that I opened up and repositioned for the picture. But I tilted the second ones for the picture too as I noticed there was some in there as well. They seem to be doing fine. Although the lighter one seems slightly irritated with the darker one, because the lighter one is trying to sleep and the darker one is wiggling around, laying on top of him, and pushing his butt all over in his face. Haha.

 

[LisabethBrooke]

I don't know if I need to assist in hatching this one. He poked his beak through last night sometime, and then nothing more really. I pulled very gently on the egg that he had already cracked off himself. And tonight he was acting as though he couldn't really move his beak around so I took of the shell and made sure the white fleshy under part was moist. I wrapped him in a damp cloth and put him back in the heating pad box and I'm hoping by morning he'll have made some progress...any progress. When he make peeps its kind of scratchy sounding like he has a dry throat? or... I don't know doesn't really sound the same as the other two did when they were attempting to hatch. I've read some of the forum posts about assisting hatching and I'm honestly scared to do it. I'd hate for him to come this far and them me to hurt him. how long should I wait before I know I absolutely have to assist? Is it that he is simply a slow hatcher? Taking extra time to absorb everything in the egg? I have no idea. Will he die if he's not assisted in hatching?

 

[sumi]

First post, that stuff is what I call "egg gunk". Perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. It falls off by itself, usually within an hour or two after the chick hatched, but if it's connected to the shell and the chick is yanking on it, you can cut it off, leaving a bit connected to the navel.

Second post, how long has it been like this now? With ducklings/goslings I wait about 30 hours from when they first pip externally before investigating. What I usually do is remove a little bit of the shell with tweezers, along with the thick outer membrane, exposing the thinner inner membrane that is covering the baby. That I dampen with a wet Q-tip and look for active blood vessels. If I don't see any, I remove a bit more shell, working my way down to the baby's belly, to see if there are any signs of active blood vessels/unabsorbed yolk in that area (I got caught out by that once, when the rest of the membrane was clear). If it's completely clear I remove enough shell to allow the baby to complete the hatch by itself. If I see any vessels/yolk, I leave it in the incubator for another 2-3 hours, come back and check again.

Sometimes the baby will take extra time to absorb everything in there. I've had chicks go to 30 hours and a duckling to 4 days once. So take it slow and watch the baby. If it's lively and breathing, it's fine. It may protest and complain because it wants out, but don't listen to it until you are sure it's ready. If it cannot complete the hatch by itself and is stuck in the egg, it will die, but don't worry about that. If the baby's o.k. and simply in an awkward position to hatch you can get it out of there, just follow the hatching guides carefully.

 

[LisabethBrooke]

He cried for hours last night before I decided I'd better attempt at some kind of help. I was super worried his yolk wasn't absorbed or I'd injure him while I was attempting to save him. But I read from this guy http://www.thepocketfarmer.com/the-pocket-farmer/category/one left behind of a duckling that he helped hatch. And in the links that I was given and other places I read online it seemed like no one attempted assistance until after a 12 hour mark. He was working on 15 - 24 hours of just pipping the external hole. And he didn't do anything beyond that. So I pulled some of the shell and the white membrane off and the membrane/ amniotic sack? thing around him was brown and just keeping him in one position and was still over the most of his beak. So I tugged on it slightly and it was very elastic-y. So I picked off more shell and wet it and there wasn't any blood vessels so I figured I'd pull off enough and tear the sack and hopefully he would kick himself out. I read someplace that them kicking themselves out of the shell is important for leg development. I was really worried that the yolk wouldn't be absorbed, but figured if it wasn't he probably wouldn't kick himself out. At least I was hoping he wouldn't. When he finally kicked himself out everything was absorbed and he was looking quite dry. so I wiped him off a little with a warm damp washcloth dabbed a little water onto his beak and put him into the box with his siblings. This morning he is all fluffed up and looking great.

 

[sumi]

Well done! So out of 5 eggs, 3 hatched and one was off. What's the 4th one doing?

 

[LisabethBrooke]

Well done! So out of 5 eggs, 3 hatched and one was off. What's the 4th one doing?

I pitched the one that was sloshy, and the other started to smell today. And started to get condensation bubbles inside it, ar at least that's what they looked like. So I used them to bate our live trap outside. We have another coon coming into the yard. I'm hoping to catch it before it either gets my other goose or one of our goslings that are already moved outside. I'm also hoping that the two store bought goslings will accept the three hatched goslings, but we'll see.