Help! My newly hatched chick is bleeding a lot!

[teamtmo]

This is my first time hatching chicks. I have 3 early hatchers (Day 20), and one of them was the first to start zipping its shell, but got stuck and the other two hatched before it did. It only took the other two chicks 1 hour or less to hatch and the third chick was struggling to hatch for 4 hours and exhausted himself. We had to assist him a little by wetting the drying membrane on his shell to help him kick it off. For a few hours after he hatched, he was just lying there breathing, but eventually got up and was moving around with the other two chicks. My husband and I just noticed fresh blood coming from his abdomen that was not there before. Could this be from possibly cutting it on the broken eggshells inside the incubator? Should we remove the eggshells? Should we increase the humidity in the incubator to try to encourage healing? I don't think we have any styptic or cornstarch unfortunately. He hatched almost 3 hours ago before he started bleeding. Now there is a lot of blood on the paper towel and I'm really worried. I really want this little guy to make it. Please help :-(

 

[altair]

I do believe flour will also work. I had read somewhere you can dip his navel in sugar to be absorbed into his bloodstream (for energy) and act as an antibacterial.

What's the humidity like in the incubator?

I pulled the chick I had in the incubator when it had an incompletely closed navel-- the lower humidity and clean bedding gets it out of a humid environment which bacteria favor (they're loaded when things hatch). Lower humidity also helps wounds to dry.

I also didn't want the healthy chicks pecking the wound.

The call is yours though!

 

[teamtmo]

I do believe flour will also work. I had read somewhere you can dip his navel in sugar to be absorbed into his bloodstream (for energy) and act as an antibacterial.

What's the humidity like in the incubator?

I pulled the chick I had in the incubator when it had an incompletely closed navel-- the lower humidity and clean bedding gets it out of a humid environment which bacteria favor (they're loaded when things hatch). Lower humidity also helps wounds to dry.

I also didn't want the healthy chicks pecking the wound.

The call is yours though!

It appears a piece of eggshell covered up the wound and it has stopped bleeding for now. We don't have anything to check the humidity (this is my first hatch and I'm still learning). We hadn't seen any response to my post and wanted to act fast so we decided to remove the eggshells to clear space for them (there are still 2 eggs that have not hatched yet and it was really crowded in the mini advance incubator). When we removed the eggshells I filled up the water reservoirs again to try to make up for the humidity that was lost when we removed the eggshells. There is a lot of blood from the chick on the paper towel and I am afraid to remove the towel because we were just moving stuff around, but I am also afraid of bacteria blooming from all the blood. Should we remove all three hatchlings and put them with a warmer and clean bedding while we clean up the bloody towel and then put them back in? I just don't want to mess with the humidity too much because there are still two more eggs that need to hatch. What could you suggest?

 

[altair]

Definitely get a hydrometer or two for next time as it can cause damage in different ways if too low or two high.

But for the present, hatching will create its own humidity from the eggs and chicks drying.

I would probably pull the chick into a nice warm brooder as it will be weaker from blood loss and probably not able to get away from the other marauding chicks. Leave it on the towel for the time being.

 

[altair]

How'd the chick make out?

 

[teamtmo]

The chick healed up fine. All 3 of my chicks are fluffy and in good health as far as I can tell. They are 1 week old now

 

[altair]

The chick healed up fine. All 3 of my chicks are fluffy and in good health as far as I can tell. They are 1 week old now

Awesome!!!!