Help!! One chick is stuck in the egg

[daniellenoel]

Here is a quick synopsis.. I am teacher and we hatched chicks in our classroom incubator. 7 chicks are now out in the brooder. I left school yesterday with one chick who had just hatched out and one pipping.. i came back to school today and the the one who was pipping had not made any progress, hole was the same size- could still see his beak and was breathing. So, we helped get him out.. by chipping the shell away, a little at a time, he is now out. and very tired.. he has a bit of brown/red gunk stuck to his belly or bottom. maybe the umbilical type cord? he does not really want to pick up his at all and is laying down. if he falls on his back and does nto try to get up off his back? I have just left school and will go back to check on him later. the humidity and temp were fine 99.6 and 63%
Any suggestions??

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

9 times out of 10 he's going to die..... might want to get him out before the kiddos see him. I just lost one the same way on Thursday. I got overly anxious and helped him out, and it ended up dying anyway. Did the same thing your's is doing.

 

[daniellenoel]

Yikes... poor little guy.. How long did he stay that way before he didn;t make it?
I am giving him until tomorrow. SHould I leave him in the incubator? He is the last one left. The rest are in the brooder?

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

In my case, he was pipped for a day when I 'helped out.' He lived for maybe 6 hours after that, if that long.

 

[barnwife]

I agree. If you help em out, and they just flip over a lot...they do not make it very often. I have hatched almost 200 eggs in the last month, and only three out of many many that ended up like that (I had wicked temp spikes and drops all month long) are alive still. It's not just with chicks, either. Pheasant, quail, ducks, and chicks.

It is almost not even worth the efforts needed to keep them alive, especially if you are doing a bunch. Every bit of energy you put into the sick ones is some you could have given to the healthy ones who will reproduce more healthy chicks.

Preserving weakness does not make sense for folks trying to do this for a living or to provide better stock overall. Weak chicks tend to be the chickens and chicks who get sick fiirst and pass the same traits to their young, if they reproduce.


I am not trying to be heartless, I cry with every dead baby I find or cull...and we bury them in the garden we cultivate specifically as treats for our poultry. It is a part of life in this world, and it is a sad part.

I don't know what else to tell you. I wish you luck!