Help! Hatching/pipping egg with no incubator - how can I jury rig one?

[ECrow]

I found a chick in my coop this morning that had hatched and died, and I suspect my broody hen had something to do with the death, so I took a pipping egg from her to try to hatch and save the chick on my own, but I have no incubator and have never hatched eggs before.
I’ve been sitting with a heating pad wrapped around the egg, and I put a damp cloth against part of the egg to try to keep the humidity up, but I have never hatched an egg before.
Will this strategy work?? Is there anything I could do to make the chances of the chick hatching and surviving higher??

 

[TheCluckyClucker2]

Is it still alive? Moving the chick can hurt it. If it is still in the egg you should probably put it back under momma and get the chick when it hatches. @FeatherTay. @Wyorp Rock. Do you guys have suggestions or know who to tag?

 

[FeatherTay]

Why do you think it was the mom? The might work, but you could also try and heat up a bathroom all hot and steamy. How it it doing now?

 

[ECrow]

Is it still alive? Moving the chick can hurt it. If it is still in the egg you should probably put it back under momma and get the chick when it hatches. @FeatherTay. @Wyorp Rock. Do you guys have suggestions or know who to tag?

The chick is still alive, it’s cheeping occasionally and I can hear it pipping. There is a small hole in the egg that I can see it’s beak through now and then. I had 3 eggs under my hen and the other two hatched under her but were gone when I found them and it looked like they’d been pecked at, so I’m worried my hen will hurt or kill this chick if I return the egg to her (she’s a fairly aggressive hen).

 

[ECrow]

Why do you think it was the mom? The might work, but you could also try and heat up a bathroom all hot and steamy. How it it doing now?

The mother hen is a pretty aggressive lady, and both chicks looked like they’d been pecked at a little, but I guess she could’ve pecked at them after they’d died. Do you think it would be best to return the egg to her? It’s been about 4 hours now and there is a small hole in the egg which I can see the chick’s beak through, and I can hear it peep and tap on the egg now and then, but it hasn’t made a whole lot of progress pipping the egg. I have the egg under a heat lamp now, but I’m worried it’ll dry out (I don’t think I can do the bathroom idea, my bathroom doesn’t get very steamy).

 

[Ebony Rose]

Place egg in a small(ish) cardboard or plastic box without the lid on. Place a 'shop' light with a plain, NON-teflon coated lightbulb over the box and fashion a way to suspend the light over/in the box at a height that provides 99 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit at the top of the egg (bottom of the box). You can determine this with a thermometer inside the box. Once you're satisfied that the interior of the box is not too hot or too cold, put the egg in the box. Ignore humidity issues at this point, the eggs has both internally and externally pipped so any damage due to humidity issues, if any, has likely already occurred. I have literally incubated eggs with this method, so using it as an emergency plan seems logical to me. Place a pencil under the box on one side, and move the location of the pencil to another side every six to eight hours to cause the egg to gently tilt in another direction (a low-tech egg turner strategy).
In the meantime, you will need to consider how you will integrate this chick into the flock, because the mother is (apparently) NOT going to assist you in that endeavor. Many many strategies listed on the forums. If you can keep the chick indoors for a few days in your makeshift incubator/brooder, and then move it/them in to the coop inside of a wire cage (so the chick cannot get out, the adult birds cannot get in) that enables the chick & adults to see and hear each other, you can expect that the chick will fully integrate at about 3 to 4 weeks of age. IF this is a one and only chick, you might consider buying a few day old chicks for it to grow up with as soon as the chick hatches, as chickens require friends in their age-group.
Best of luck to you and your feathered family.

 

[ECrow]

The chick is still alive, it’s cheeping occasionally and I can hear it pipping. There is a small hole in the egg that I can see it’s beak through now and then. I had 3 eggs under my hen and the other two hatched under her but were gone when I found them and it looked like they’d been pecked at, so I’m worried my hen will hurt or kill this chick if I return the egg to her (she’s a fairly aggressive hen).

The chick is still alive, it’s cheeping occasionally and I can hear it pipping. There is a small hole in the egg that I can see it’s beak through now and then. I had 3 eggs under my hen and the other two hatched under her but were gone when I found them and it looked like they’d been pecked at, so I’m worried my hen will hurt or kill this chick if I return the egg to her (she’s a fairly aggressive hen).

Do you think I should give the chick back to the mother hen? It’s definitely still alive, it just hasn’t done much pipping in the last few hours - is there something the mom could help with that I can’t?

 

[Verbon30]

Go buy a heat lamp used for reptiles they see them at Walmart and a thermometer I like the ones with remote sensors. You will need the heat lamp to keep the young chick warm anyways if the hen is killing chicks. Lack of humidity might become an issue. Other then buying an incubators its the best I can think of. There are some diy incubators .

https://www.instructables.com/The-3-30-Minute-Egg-Incubator/

 

[ECrow]

It’s been 6 hours now, and not much has happened with the egg. The chick is still alive, I can see it move (it’s beak is visible in the photo) and hear it cheep, but it hasn’t done a whole lot of pipping. This is all the progress the chick has made in the egg, most of which was already made when I found the egg.
Should I leave the chick alone and see if it does more work at the egg? I don’t want to step in and help it, but should I? At which point should I try to help?

 

[Ebony Rose]

This stage can take up to 24 hours and it's not uncommon for the chick to take a long nap between stages. Worry if the cheeping becomes weak and consider assisting the hatch IF the cheeping becomes feeble by removing some of the shell at the 'air sac' side of the egg (the fatter side, towards the left on the image you've posted). Dab a little cooking oil on the exposed membrane if you go for an assist to determine how advanced the hatch is and to eliminate shrink-wrapping, as the oil will enable you to see the blood vessels. If the blood vessels are many and/or pronounced, then it's not fully ready to finish hatching. Fully ready to hatch or not, your next step is to place it back into its warm place to allow the chick to do as much of the work as is possible. The struggle of hatching makes the chick stronger and ultimately healthier, so you want to allow them to do as much of the work as they can.