HELP HELP URGENT DISASTER!!

[mtgrl]

So a couple hours ago I accidentally spilled some water on my incubator and now it's gone whack! I tried to wipe it up but I don't know if it's still working or not because the temperature shot waaay up after that and I tried to readjust it, thinking I might have knocked off the temperature knob, but it doesn't seem like it's regulating the temperature properly because no matter how low I turn it the heater won't shut off! I'm a bit worried about electrical dangers with it now, but a more immediate concern was the eggs inside because I started hearing peeping from them and then noticed one of them was pipped!

So I took the pipped egg out and tried to help it out of its shell, hoping I could get it out of the incubator a little early so I could deal with the insane incubator and save it from freezing/boiling to death, but the chick wasn't ready yet and it started bleeding a little, so I stopped and applied pressure to stop the bleeding-it seems to have stopped but I'm not sure! How do I stop the bleeding? And what should I do? I put it back in the incubator but I'm not sure I can keep it in there right now and I'm pretty much panicking! I read to apply a moist paper towel to a bleeding chick in egg but I was a little worried about doing that because it seems like the chick could suffocate that way!

So what do I do?? I have about 10 eggs that should be just about ready to hatch right now and one of them is missing half its shell and bleeding and they're all in an incubator that is either going to cook them or if I unplug it they will freeze to death!

What about a heat lamp? Could I maybe find a way to finish the incubation underneath the heat lamp I use for the hatched chicks, maybe by wrapping them in moist paper towels to keep them from drying out or what??

I need a response right away or the chick and the rest of the eggs could die!! I'd appreciate any help very much! Thank you

 

[mtgrl]

Ok so I looked at it again and the chick has stopped bleeding but the incubator is DEFINITELY messed up because it was on the lowest setting and it was STILL like 10 degrees too hot! And I gave the thermometre time to adjust

And what about the chick? I mean the membrane looks wrapped around it really tight and I don't know how it's getting enough oxygen in there!

 

[CharterChick]

I'm new to chickens but I had a mixed batch of eggs and had to help one out of the shell. If it started to bleed I'd stick a moist peice of paper towel over it. If your incubator is wack maybe you could hatch them under a heat lamp. I've seen blogs where people hatched with a heating blanket... But it sounds like you are low on options

 

[mtgrl]

I would put a damp paper towel over it but because the membrane is kind of wrapped tight around the chick I'm worried it won't be able to breathe if I do that or may drown or something... is there really a concern with the chick drying out, is that the reason for the paper towel? What if I just keep the humidity up very high?

 

[CharterChick]

I did it to stop the bleeding and keep it moist but I didn't cover the beak so it could breath.

 

[mtgrl]

Ok I did put a damp paper towel over part of the exposed area but not over the hole in the membrane where I can see it breathing... could that still cause the membrane to stick so the chick couldn't breathe though?

 

[CharterChick]

I didn't have a problem with it. The 2 chicks I helped are 2 and 3 weeks old and are both heathy and looking like roosters! I did keep a close eye on them though and I followed the advice on some of the forums.

 

[CharterChick]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/9316/intervention-helping-your-chicks-hatch

 

[CharterChick]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/603873/homemade-incubators

 

[mtgrl]

Thank you! Sorry if I'm freaking out but so many things are happening at once lol! I had some fish (which is how this all happened to begin with, I got some from petsmart but the bag they were in broke and I didn't realize it until I'd set the grocery bag on top of my incubator) that I had in a little dish while all this was going on and they were jumping out of it while I was trying to tend to the chick! I lost three to suicide!