Help please... chick still not out of cracked shell.

[Lacey Gardner]

1st time hatching... This is day 22 I noticed this egg this morning is starting to make its way out. (Other two chicks are already out and healthy) It is moving around in there but still hasn’t made its way all the way out. I have moved it a few time gently pushing it back under momma hope I didn’t mess it up? Should he/she be out by now. She has been like this all day?

 

[NorthwesternOntarioHobby]

I hate to say this but after years of incubating - of he cannot make his way out of the egg by himself he will not survive. Sometimes a little intervention works but I find that is 2/10 times.
If you’d like after waiting a couple hours go ahead and remove the egg, bring it inside , dampen a washcloth with warm water and cradle the egg inside it, gently check if the bloody membrane has been dried up ... sometimes a chick will get “cling wrapped” by the membrane... never pierce a bloody membrane yourself or the chick will die for sure.
if the chick is free and just having trouble getting that last bit of hard shell off go ahead and gently and slowly millimeter by millimeter chip the shell away (stop if you meet with any blood) by pinching it with your nails. Don’t let the cracked shell poke inward or it could cut the chick.

but... sadly .. my strongest advice is to leave it alone. If it is strong enough to survive it will. If it is too weak to hatch - it’s too weak to hatch. It happens.

 

[Lacey Gardner]

I hate to say this but after years of incubating - of he cannot make his way out of the egg by himself he will not survive. Sometimes a little intervention works but I find that is 2/10 times.
If you’d like after waiting a couple hours go ahead and remove the egg, bring it inside , dampen a washcloth with warm water and cradle the egg inside it, gently check if the bloody membrane has been dried up ... sometimes a chick will get “cling wrapped” by the membrane... never pierce a bloody membrane yourself or the chick will die for sure.
if the chick is free and just having trouble getting that last bit of hard shell off go ahead and gently and slowly millimeter by millimeter chip the shell away (stop if you meet with any blood) by pinching it with your nails. Don’t let the cracked shell poke inward or it could cut the chick.

but... sadly .. my strongest advice is to leave it alone. If it is strong enough to survive it will. If it is too weak to hatch - it’s too weak to hatch. It happens.

Thank you.. I needed to hear this! I will leave alone and let nature take its course.

 

[NorthwesternOntarioHobby]

Thank you.. I needed to hear this! I will leave alone and let nature take its course.

Great choice! I wish the little creature luck but don’t feel too bad if it doesn’t work out!

 

[Lacey Gardner]

Update: (My eggs were under a broody hen not in an incubator) So after waiting all day for the chick to make more progress it seemed like it got halfway around egg breaking it open that morning and by night time hadn’t done anything more. The feathers that were popping out of the shell were dry and fluffy and the chick inside was still chirping away.... the membrane was so hard and dried out. I think it was stuck to the dry membrane and could not rotate around anymore to break the shell open the rest of the way. I ended up slowly breaking away chips of the egg shell along the same path it had started and I used part of the egg shell to slit open the hard dried membrane. I allowed her/him to push and fight and it was finally able to break free. I slipped her back under her momma and had to peel the top half of the shell off of her it was dried and stuck to her. 2 days later she is thriving just like the other chicks. Yay!

 

[MysteryChicken]

I would've suggested assisting this peep if I seen this earlier, or have been tagged in to help you.

 

[NorthwesternOntarioHobby]

Im

Update: (My eggs were under a broody hen not in an incubator) So after waiting all day for the chick to make more progress it seemed like it got halfway around egg breaking it open that morning and by night time hadn’t done anything more. The feathers that were popping out of the shell were dry and fluffy and the chick inside was still chirping away.... the membrane was so hard and dried out. I think it was stuck to the dry membrane and could not rotate around anymore to break the shell open the rest of the way. I ended up slowly breaking away chips of the egg shell along the same path it had started and I used part of the egg shell to slit open the hard dried membrane. I allowed her/him to push and fight and it was finally able to break free. I slipped her back under her momma and had to peel the top half of the shell off of her it was dried and stuck to her. 2 days later she is thriving just like the other chicks. Yay!

so happy you were able to help the little creature! Great job!

 

[Lacey Gardner]

Im

so happy you were able to help the little creature! Great job!

Thank ya!