Help! Egg broken and chick inside breathing

[Bunnybryn]

I was out of town when my first time broody starting sitting, my best guess is they are due to hatch Saturday. I just went to check on her and found an egg broken open. The chick is clearly breathing. Is there anything I can do?

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[ladybrasa]

Yay, first broody has appeared to realize she hatched these peeps and had not killed them! She has also accepted being moved from the nesting box to the floor (don’t want babies falling!)

 

[RosemaryDuck]

It looks like it's lost a lot of blood. I would try to stem the bleeding, then take it inside (the whole egg, do not remove the chick from it) and put it in an incubator if you have one. Now that it's actively bleeding the hen may just kill it.

 

[Bunnybryn]

It almost looks like the hen pecked the egg open...

When I found it she looked like she was eating the yolk sack

 

[Sierra G]

That the yolk sac isn't intact would indicate the chicks odds of survival are low. If you want to do a makeshift incubator you need two things, a container that will keep the heat in and a source to generate some heat, but not too much. For a heat source something like a 40 Watt bulb should work. For a container a small to mid sized cooler or something similar will work. Put the bulb in the cooler, not touching anything, and turn it on. Add a towel or old clothes for cushioning and a bowl of warm water to keep the humidity up. You shoułd have some way to monitor temperature too. You'll want a temperature around 100F.

Edit: incandescent bulbs are getting rarer. You might need to use a heating pad instead. Whatever you use to heat the box, it shouldn't be directly touching the egg.

 

[KelseyBoxer]

Its easier if momma hatches and raises the babies. No brooder, no dust, no smell in the house! Rooting for the momma!!

 

[Bunnybryn]

The chick didn't make it. Thank you all for the ideas. I really hope she does ok with the other eggs!

 

[KelseyBoxer]

Sorry about the loss of the little one. Are there more under the hen? A heating pad setup would be a good thing to have on hand in case the momma cant complete the incubation. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[ButtonHoarder]

@Kiki @MGG @CluckNDoodle

 

[Kellyjenny]

The chick didn't make it. Thank you all for the ideas. I really hope she does ok with the other eggs!

I'm so sorry.