Help!! Suggestions needed asap.......

[Kilkilkorken]

I have a few barnyard mixes (RIR, RIW, and BR) that are on day 20 in the incubator today. By around noon, three of the 12 that went into lockdown had made external pip holes. Unfortunately, one pipped in the small end, and it really was a pretty small "small" end. One of the right side pippers was born at 4:20 pm today. The small end pipper seemed to be having a really hard time. I monitored closely all day and just a bit ago he/she tried to zip out of the egg. She made one tiny crack and then nothing,...just struggled. You could tell she was going to suffocate. I'm pretty good about knowing if I REALLY need to assist or not. I gave her a bit longer to see if any more progress would be made and nada,..you could just see her backside to the pip hole and her struggling to zip but not getting anywhere due to no room to move in the small end of the egg. I decided to assist a bit,..I helped her remove some of the shell and checked for blood, but there was none. The vessels were all drawn up. I zipped off some shell for her all the way over to where her beak now was and then she happily pushed herself out. She came out great with no blood in the shell at all. Now the bad news....it looks as though her abdomen is protruding a bit, but she is moving all around and sitting up and peeping happily with energy. Also, her feet/toes seemed to be curled in a bit. Is the curling due to her being in the small end of the shell? How do I fix it or help her? What about her abdomen? This is my first time having one hatch with problems. But she does seem to be doing well,...I would just love to have some suggestions from others that have been in my situation or know of solutions. Thank you.

 

[kuchchicks]

How long has she been out? Sometimes the belly just takes a bit. I have had some hatch like that and the belly always seems to go down. Just like absorbing yolk. As for the toes again you can give it few hours to let her get her legs steady. They may straighten out on their own. If not you can look into making little shoes with a 3x5 card and tape her toes straight. At this age they grow really quickly and could correct pretty quick. I have found though that some times the chicks that attempt to hatch at the wrong end or those that need to be assisted do sometimes have these types of issues. There could be other issues going on here that contributed to both problems.

 

[Kiki]

Hi there...can you post a picture of her belly and toes?