How come people are so anxious to help chicks hatch?

[kstaven]

One thing that needs to be stressed to those new to hatching, is that even under ideal incubator conditions 21 DAYS is just the most common baseline for hatching eggs. Many chicks can take 23 days. Some pip internally and fully hatch in hours while others will be 24 hours or more. Just because the chick started to external pip and has not fully hatched in 4-6 hours does not necessarily mean there is a problem. I have seen many chicks take over 48 hours from internal pip to full hatch.

Knowing when you "can" safely assist and when to walk away and let them do it on their own is something that only comes with hatching hundreds of chicks. For the most part I agree with the hands off approach, but there have been times when something wasn't quite right with the incubator and it was not a factor of less than thrifty chicks. At that point I will assist where I absolutely have to.

 

[cockadoodlemom]

Quote:
This is the first post that made me feel like everybody is not mad because I helped. I now see what went wrong with my hatch that made it where I had to help. This was my first time to hatch and my excitment nearly cost me 3 babies. I did not wait till everyone hatched before removing the dried chicks and it messed the humidity up but it bounced right back so we thought all was fine. The 3 we helped had been pipped for over 10 hours and their membrane was white and like paper. These chicks had also started having trouble breathing and their cheeps were very few and faint. It was our fault they were in this shape so it was our responsability to save them. I now know to wait till all are hatched before opening the incubator. I see yall's point and understand what you are saying but it hurts cause it seems like your mad at us that help. To me hatching for the first time is a "Live and Learn" lesson and it is helpful to have ALL this information and not just one or the other. Would it be possible to have a sticky that all yall with more experience than us "newbie hatchers" could work on together that explains all these factors and information in one place? The reason I say one place is because some people hear have dial up and it takes too long to pull up one link then go to another link. Maybe Hatching 101: Before you begin and to the End.

 

[BeautifulBlue]

I read this on a different forum recently, very interesting and gets the point across:

""WHY CAN'T WE DO CAESAREAN SECTIONS ON EGGS.

Bird embryo's are not supported by placentas as mammals are. Instead there is a network of blood vessels that line the shell and ends up in an umbilical cord that is attacted to the quail at it's "belly button".

When the quail is ready to hatch, it breaks into the air cell and begins to breathe. This triggers the network of supporting blood vessels to begin to shut down. All the blood from these vessels must drain into the quail before it is ready to hatch.

The quail struggles and movement helps this process and by the time it is ready to hatch there is no more blood in the vessels that line the shell.

If the shell is broken before this network of blood vessels has stopped functioning and one or more of these vessels is damaged, there will be bleeding. Baby birds don't have a lot of spare blood and this can be dangerious.

When a mammal is born, the umbilical cord is usually crushed before the baby is born, so it does not bleed. During a caesarean section, the cord is clamped before cutting for the same reason.

It's simply not possable to clamp the cord of a baby bird before breaking the shell, so opening the egg while that network of blood vessels is still functioning will cause many to be torn which would be the same as tearing open (or removing) the placenta while the baby is still using it. The baby will bleed to death.

I hope people read this and think about what your doing when opening eggs, You may think your helping the chicks, but your not.

Derek.""

 

[hiddenmagnolia]

I also have hatched for a lot of years. I don't like to interfere with the hatch. The few times that I have was for one reason only. The membrane dried up on the bird after it had zipped and it had the bird trapped. If the bird does not start to zip after pipping I do not help. No I am not cruel. I just like to raise strong health birds. That will also raise strong health birds later. I raise show birds they have to able to produce offspring and stay health. I want to improve my breeds not make them weaker. If the hens are not good layers then they are giving away as pet or food. If the bird is sickly then it is humanely killed and buried. The birds that do not meet the standard of the breed are eaten or giving as pets. No I do not make any money off of my birds. I have them because I enjoy them. But I feel that I have a responsibility to raise the birds so that they are healthy and have a good home and are well taken care of to the best of my ability. But I don't put any one down for trying to help. But sometimes we have to stop and think are we doing what is best for the bird. If a chick is sick is it better to do all of this doctoring on it just to end up with a chick that is not health or suffering for the rest of it's life. If there is something wrong with them then I will humanly put them down. That is being a good caregiver. I put the health of my flock before my emotions. Not easy to do but I make myself do it.

 

[silkiechicken]

I think I am going to edit the first post in the sticky and put this thread in there at the top. It may provide a warning for those itching to "help". Good discussion.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

 

[tingle]

Quote:
An excellent and iformative post