help please ASAP!!!

1crazychicklady

Chirping
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I had 2 broody hens, who after several failed hatches, decided to abandon their eggs. I was able to save 4 eggs and quickly made a homemade incubator to put them in. I had no idea really how far along the eggs were, but I knew this one "big blue" was very close. This all happened about a week ago. Yesterday when I got home from work I saw that she had made an external pip, and looked great. Today when I got home from work, the hole was only slightly bigger and although she was actively trying to get out, she was making progress even after hours, and the membrane was turning brown. I decided to help in stages. At each stage I gave her time to try to do more herself and she just seemed stuck no matter how much she tried. I helped her almost all the way, but left her to do herself towards the end. Then I noticed the reason she couldn't get the rest of the way was because she was still very connected to the shell. She just now got loose from the shell, but I have no idea if all the stuff coming out of her is bad or normal!! Please help!! What should I do? Is this bad???
*She is still chirping
 

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Thanks guys.... I'm feeling a bit more encouraged. Big blue (she was our big blue egg!! haha) is seemingly doing better now. She is chirping away, and managed to get most of the gunk off herself, but the stuff closest to her body is still there. I do think something might be wrong with her leg. She can't stand on her own, but really enjoyed me helping her sit up. She keeps stretching one leg out in the air and it shakes like crazy. I'm really hoping that tomorrow morning when I get up, she's doing just as good or hopefully better!!
 
Late to the game, am an early bird not a night owl.
Umbilicus looks ok, from what I can see.
There's always a hunk of gunk in the shell and sometimes still attached.
Abdomen looks closed, which is good.
Belly is rather rounded, not sure about that.
The shaking leg might mean issues, or not.
They can take quite awhile to get on their feet.
Either it'll make it or not...the questionable incubation could have had an affect on the last week of development.
Were you temps good(with a tested thermometer) that last week?
Was there any blood as you assisted?
 
Late to the game, am an early bird not a night owl.
Umbilicus looks ok, from what I can see.
There's always a hunk of gunk in the shell and sometimes still attached.
Abdomen looks closed, which is good.
Belly is rather rounded, not sure about that.
The shaking leg might mean issues, or not.
They can take quite awhile to get on their feet.
Either it'll make it or not...the questionable incubation could have had an affect on the last week of development.
Were you temps good(with a tested thermometer) that last week?
Was there any blood as you assisted?

I kept the temps as regular as possible! It's been a pretty long time, maybe 6 or so years, since I've incubated eggs so I don't have any of the proper equipment anymore. The temps were roughly 95 to 105 degrees. I had a little bit of trouble keeping the humidity stable, but it ranged from the 40's to 90's. No blood when assisting that I saw, but the paper towel I had wrapped around the egg did have a few light blood marks on it. There was only one time that I saw what looked like it could have been a full vein and I stopped right away, dabbed it with a cool wet cloth and put her back in the incubator for awhile longer. When I tried again, the vein looked faint and smaller like it was able to recede without any issues.
Today she looks so much better. Even more of her cord has dried and fallen off, or it's well on its way, and she is chirping away. I think she may have a bad leg or wing possibly... she has a hard time balancing and wants to be up on her feet but doesn't seem to be able to walk yet. I think maybe it could be that the incubator is a very small space, and I have towels laid over a heating pad, so the surface isn't firm or level. I'm hoping that once she's completely dry and I can move her to the brooder she'll do better. I just feel bad that she is all alone :( The eggs were laid at different times because they were initially under a hen with other hens still laying in that box. On 7/15 I decided to start marking the ones that were incubating so that I could take any new eggs. So all I know is that my 3 remaining eggs were laid sometime before 7/15.
 
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So all I know is that my 3 remaining eggs were laid sometime before 7/15.
Have you candled them to see if they are still developing?
If the chick isn't standing well by 12 hours after hatch you might want to start a new thread titled 'chick isn't standing'. with pics or video.
 
I made the mistake of pulling out the rest of the shell that was stuck to her off..... it created a bit of bleeding in the belly area, but it wasn't a problem and it quickly recovered from it. Shouldn't be a problem with yours either.
 

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