yeye5
Songster
In one nest with 2 first-time broodies, the hatch due Wednesday evening happened perfectly, a bit early and and into Thursday morning. 9 chicks. I'm very pleased!
Due to the pullets' (broodies) mother laying extra eggs into the nest, there's been a staggered ongoing attempt at hatching by a couple of late chicks.
This early morning:
One egg was 1/2 egg and 1/2 chick!
There was a chunk knocked out around the original pip hole that was at least 1/5th of the egg's surface.
Now I understand the "shrink-wrap" phenomena. It's pretty terrible.
The little chick was stuck. Worse, the shell was being treated like an empty shell, and it was being stepped on and kicked around! So much so, in fact, that the little chick had dirt/sand all over its face, one eye open, the other eye shut and its mouth covered in sand.
It was making the motion of peeping but very little sound came out.
I carefully inspected the membrane, which had no blood vessels in it anymore; the membrane was separated from the shell. It didn't look dark but everything else looked pretty bad.
I got the chick out of the shell, dipped my finger in warm water and tried to get some of the dirt off its face--eyes and mouth.
Once that happened it peeped louder and seemed to breath ok.
I'm really worried about this one.
It still hasn't opened the other eye (thankfully one eye Is open).
Is there anything else I can do for the chick to help its health and survival? I feel strongly about doing whatever I can to help.
It could breath bcs it was peeping.
The co-moms and other chicks were not even recognizing it as another chick. I was worried it would get injured further if they stomped it or smothered it.
On the other hand, I felt that it has the best chances in the broody nest with its siblings and moms.
(I have one home made brooder that has 10 chicks that are 5 1/2 weeks old, so that's a no-go.)
If anyone has ideas, or experience, please tell me what your ideas are. If I need to butt out and let nature take its course...or pray that God is the one to save this chick bcs I am just a human...or anything else that anyone thinks to say, I'll be checking back frequently!
I am so grateful for this forum in so many ways.
You've all had my back many times. I am hoping for the best and I am counting on you all now!
Thank you in advance fr any comments, help and sharing.
Due to the pullets' (broodies) mother laying extra eggs into the nest, there's been a staggered ongoing attempt at hatching by a couple of late chicks.
This early morning:
One egg was 1/2 egg and 1/2 chick!
There was a chunk knocked out around the original pip hole that was at least 1/5th of the egg's surface.
Now I understand the "shrink-wrap" phenomena. It's pretty terrible.
The little chick was stuck. Worse, the shell was being treated like an empty shell, and it was being stepped on and kicked around! So much so, in fact, that the little chick had dirt/sand all over its face, one eye open, the other eye shut and its mouth covered in sand.
It was making the motion of peeping but very little sound came out.
I carefully inspected the membrane, which had no blood vessels in it anymore; the membrane was separated from the shell. It didn't look dark but everything else looked pretty bad.
I got the chick out of the shell, dipped my finger in warm water and tried to get some of the dirt off its face--eyes and mouth.
Once that happened it peeped louder and seemed to breath ok.
I'm really worried about this one.
It still hasn't opened the other eye (thankfully one eye Is open).
Is there anything else I can do for the chick to help its health and survival? I feel strongly about doing whatever I can to help.
It could breath bcs it was peeping.
The co-moms and other chicks were not even recognizing it as another chick. I was worried it would get injured further if they stomped it or smothered it.
On the other hand, I felt that it has the best chances in the broody nest with its siblings and moms.
(I have one home made brooder that has 10 chicks that are 5 1/2 weeks old, so that's a no-go.)
If anyone has ideas, or experience, please tell me what your ideas are. If I need to butt out and let nature take its course...or pray that God is the one to save this chick bcs I am just a human...or anything else that anyone thinks to say, I'll be checking back frequently!
I am so grateful for this forum in so many ways.
You've all had my back many times. I am hoping for the best and I am counting on you all now!
Thank you in advance fr any comments, help and sharing.
