Help!

[micmse]

I had several eggs hatch over night and one of them is just lying on its side/back and is not getting up. He is breathing, but the other chicks keep pecking it. What can I do? This is a class incubation project.

Thanks

 

[wegotchickens]

If there are still eggs hatching you should probably let nature take it's course. If you open the bator to help the weak chick you could kill the ones still trying to hatch.

Guess the kids are getting a hard lesson about how life is fragile.


BTW, some pecking is normal, as is sleeping/resting. So everything may be okay for this chick later. No way to know for sure.

 

[musicjengel]

I usually wait to see if there's feathers missing or blood on the weak chick in the incubator. For me that's when I know that I'm not just being a paranoid mother hen!
If their still picking on it when they go to the brooder, you can separate the picked on one in a shoe box. You can put the shoe box right in the brooder to keep it warm but the other chicks won't be able to get to it.
I'm in the classroom too. I know my kids would be going crazy if they noticed one being picked on too.

 

[Higins00]

I take the chicks out after 24 hours and they are fluffy. I never had any problem with opening the bator. If the others are ready to come out move them to the brooder and set the weak one on it's stomach to give it a chance.

 

[micmse]

It has not moved, so I tried to quickly move it onto its stomach so it would have a better chance. It has something all over its back and the other chicks messed with him and flipped him back over. I don't think he is going to make it and I know my kids will be so upset.

 

[gaz131]

If its sick or weak the other will kill it, maybe the better thing to remove it or try turning it again, last thing you want the kids to see is it getting killed, its not that bad to open an incubator, just spray warm mist of water back in after to keep the humidity up, the rest will be fine i remove all mine as they dry and the rest always hatch. i think we all go 2 fare with this lockdown rubbish myself, not like a hen sitting on a nest can lockdown the day her chicks hatch, if it cold then its cold, if it hot then its hot, she just has to deal with it the day they come,its hard to watch a chick that's not doing too well if it deformed then the next stage will be even harder for the kids you may have to cull the bird. sorry but it may come to that

 

[Julie08]

Quote:
I open the incubator during hatch if I need to and I have never had a bad hatch. I would take it out.