Help! Egg broken and chick inside breathing

[RosemaryDuck]

So sorry for the loss of the little chick. Some hens can get aggressive during hatching and will actually hurt the chicks once they see fluid/blood coming from the egg.

They don't get that motherly instinct and instead just view them as an annoyance/food.
You can always let her try again, but I would keep a very close eye on her and have an incubator ready.

 

[ladybrasa]

I’m sorry that the chick didn’t make it. If something similar happens in the future to anyone, would covering the opening with a section of another eggshell (like from a clean eating egg, room temp), work or be helpful? Maybe “glue” it on with some plain candle wax? Not sure if it would keep the hen from pecking it, but seems like in theory it might help protect the chick inside until it’s ready to “hatch” out?

 

[ladybrasa]

Also a little worried ... I have four young first time broodies I wasn’t able to break so gave them two eggs each. So far so good they are staying on the nests. I figure if they abandon the eggs I’ll put them in the incubator or if they abandon after hatching the chicks can just go in with the other chicks I have in the coop already. Don’t have a contingency plan for eating the eggs or chicks though ...

 

[Bunnybryn]

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

Me too! I dont want to deal with a broader setup either

 

[Bunnybryn]

Also a little worried ... I have four young first time broodies I wasn’t able to break so gave them two eggs each. So far so good they are staying on the nests. I figure if they abandon the eggs I’ll put them in the incubator or if they abandon after hatching the chicks can just go in with the other chicks I have in the coop already. Don’t have a contingency plan for eating the eggs or chicks though ...

Good luck! How far along are your eggs?

 

[Bunnybryn]

So sorry for the loss of the little chick. Some hens can get aggressive during hatching and will actually hurt the chicks once they see fluid/blood coming from the egg.

They don't get that motherly instinct and instead just view them as an annoyance/food.
You can always let her try again, but I would keep a very close eye on her and have an incubator ready.

Thank you! I'm going to keep checking her frequently. She still has 6 under her and only a couple of days to go. I really hope she does well with those!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'm so sorry for the loss of the chick. Hopefully your new mama will do beautifully with the other 6 eggs. Since this is her first time, maybe it was a one time thing, but I'd be like you and checking on her a lot. Please let us know how she does with the upcoming hatch. I'm wishing you the best!

 

[johnsonfarm]

I just had this happen a couple weeks ago, the hen was killing her babies as they hatched. We found one broken open but peeping so my son held it close while I got the incubator set up. It hatched the rest of they way in his hands and dried out in the incubator. I took the rest of the eggs and put them in too, we didnt trust that hen anymore. We had one more chick successfully hatch in the incubator after that.

 

[Bunnybryn]

Happy update! It's hatch day and I went to check on Arlo and we have one cute fuzzy black chick and I got to watch another one give the final push out of her egg! Momma is doing great so far! 4 more to go!

 

[thehenandchick01234]

How fun they are so cute