Help! Premature chick leg stuck in yoke sac

[Serenity2007]

I’m new here. One of my favorite chickens was killed by a fox three weeks ago so I’m hatching three of her eggs. The first one hatched fine (a day and half early) but, the second one didn’t. They weren’t due until tonight. The second one started pipping yesterday afternoon about 3:15 PM. The first born kept pecking the egg and got a big hole in it, which caused the chick in the egg to get stuck. It couldn’t move. The 1st born was literally ripping out its feathers. So, I got it out of the egg successfully, but it’s 1 foot is stuck in the yolk sac so it can’t move. Should I turn it over or just leave it alone. It’s been out of the shell now since 9:45 AM and it’s currently 2:25 PM. It’s peeping, but I’m so worried and I don’t know what to do. I took the first chick out because it was 24 hours old and put it in the brooder. She’s doing great. The humidity in the incubator is 71% and the temperature is 100°. I still have the third egg in there that hasn’t hatched yet with the chick. Thank you for any help you can give me!

 

[kattabelly]

I'd clean that off if it's really wrapped around the foot, assuming it's definitely just hatch gunk and there's no unabsorbed yolk (hard to see from the picture on my phone screen but you said it was early and an assisted hatch)

 

[Slothinc]

I too would clean that off of the leg. Just be very careful not to pull anything away from the chick’s bum area because it still may be attached at the umbilical site.

Also for future reference, if a chick hatches out and is doing well, feel free to take it out of the incubator after an hour or two. Especially if it is harassing unhatched eggs.

The third egg in the incubator, I would candle now. To see if it has internally pipped. If not internally pipped, I would imagine it may shrink wrapped and possibly won’t survive. If it has internally pipped it may be okay but I would keep a close eye on it, and perhaps put in a safety hole, as it should have externally pipped by now.

 

[Serenity2007]

I'd clean that off if it's really wrapped around the foot, assuming it's definitely just hatch gunk and there's no unabsorbed yolk (hard to see from the picture on my phone screen but you said it was early and an assisted hatch)

Thank you. It does still have the yoke in it. It’s absorbed quite a bit of it, but not all yet. It bled a little when I got it out of the shell. So I was afraid to do anything else to it. I didn’t realize that the foot was underneath the yolk sac when I put it in there. It’s still very weak and not really moving around much or even trying to. But, strong peeps.

 

[Serenity2007]

I too would clean that off of the leg. Just be very careful not to pull anything away from the chick’s bum area because it still may be attached at the umbilical site.

Also for future reference, if a chick hatches out and is doing well, feel free to take it out of the incubator after an hour or two. Especially if it is harassing unhatched eggs.

The third egg in the incubator, I would candle now. To see if it has internally pipped. If not internally pipped, I would imagine it may shrink wrapped and possibly won’t survive. If it has internally pipped it may be okay but I would keep a close eye on it, and perhaps put in a safety hole, as it should have externally pipped by now.

It won’t be day 21 until 3 hours from now. The egg moves a bit now and then, started a couple of hours ago. This is so stressful!

 

[Serenity2007]

It won’t be day 21 until 3 hours from now. The egg moves a bit now and then, started a couple of hours ago. This is so stressful!

I’m afraid to say I don’t know how to tell if it’s internally pipped I’ve never done this before. I wouldn’t be doing it now except for my hen being killed.

 

[Slothinc]

Unless the first egg was in a very hot spot in the incubator, they should have all developed at relatively the same rate. So usually after the first few chicks hatch, I start to worry a bit about the ones that havent pipped yet (because they may be over 24 hours behind.)

If you have a way to candle the egg, shine the light through the fat end of the egg, where you should see the air cell. If you see a beak sticking up into the air cell area and movement up in there then it has internally pipped. Also, you can hold the egg up to your ear and if you hear peeping then it has internally pipped

 

[Serenity2007]

I got it unstuck and put coconut oil on its feet and the sac as it was stuck to the grid. I candled the third egg. It died.

 

[Slothinc]

I got it unstuck and put coconut oil on its feet and the sac as it was stuck to the grid. I candled the third egg. It died.

It is possibly still alive if you saw movement recently. You could open up the aircell and try to assist. Or place back in the incubator just in case.

 

[Slothinc]

I think your chick possibly has a splay leg. That is probably why the leg is sticking straight out back and it isn’t walking. Here is an article I wrote about how I brace splay leg chicks.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/easy-brace-for-splay-leg-chicks.80050/