My friend ran his incubator and let me add some eggs.
We added 8 and 4 hatched. He had to help #3 out because the
egg had dropped on day 19 and cracked. This caused the
membrane to dry out. So on day 20, he moistened the membrane
and proceeded to delicately peel the shell off of my chick.
Thanks to him, I have ,what looks to be, a bantam cochin/mix.
Might be D'uccle/mix, but I'm not sure.
Day 21, while he was at work, I went to check in the bator and
noticed some pippers and zippers and made note as to how far
along they were at if they looked dry. I left and returned 2 hours
later, and in that time, a D'uccle egg had zipped and hatched, but
the egg of his had not changed and looked dry. I could see the
baby trying, but it was struggling. I called my friend and he asked
me if I'd try to help it out using warm water and a paper towel.
I was thrilled at the idea. I have never seen a chick hatch let alone help one.
It was a good call, as the membrane was stuck to the chick in a way that it could not muscle it's way out.
I did not use a flash here....
"Hi baby!" It peeped back at me and had a nice strong voice!
It sure is amazing how they fit in that egg!!!
Here it is out. I was afraid it was deformed because it looked so
weird. But I called mark and he said they do look horrible just out
of the shell.. and he was right! I put it back in the incubator on a
warm, damp paper towel. The yolk sac was gone a few hours later
and it was walking around. I didn't even THINK to take a picture
next time I went down to visit. But it was getting along
wonderfully. AND..I had to help a second one out as well.
With the second one, I left it in the bottom part of the shell.
Both chicks lived as far as I know.
We added 8 and 4 hatched. He had to help #3 out because the
egg had dropped on day 19 and cracked. This caused the
membrane to dry out. So on day 20, he moistened the membrane
and proceeded to delicately peel the shell off of my chick.
Thanks to him, I have ,what looks to be, a bantam cochin/mix.
Might be D'uccle/mix, but I'm not sure.
Day 21, while he was at work, I went to check in the bator and
noticed some pippers and zippers and made note as to how far
along they were at if they looked dry. I left and returned 2 hours
later, and in that time, a D'uccle egg had zipped and hatched, but
the egg of his had not changed and looked dry. I could see the
baby trying, but it was struggling. I called my friend and he asked
me if I'd try to help it out using warm water and a paper towel.
I was thrilled at the idea. I have never seen a chick hatch let alone help one.
It was a good call, as the membrane was stuck to the chick in a way that it could not muscle it's way out.
I did not use a flash here....
"Hi baby!" It peeped back at me and had a nice strong voice!
It sure is amazing how they fit in that egg!!!
Here it is out. I was afraid it was deformed because it looked so
weird. But I called mark and he said they do look horrible just out
of the shell.. and he was right! I put it back in the incubator on a
warm, damp paper towel. The yolk sac was gone a few hours later
and it was walking around. I didn't even THINK to take a picture
next time I went down to visit. But it was getting along
wonderfully. AND..I had to help a second one out as well.
With the second one, I left it in the bottom part of the shell.
Both chicks lived as far as I know.
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