I goofed, please tell me what to do.....

[steffpeck]

I candled an egg and thought it had died, so I start to open the air cell end of the egg to see when it stopped developing and I find a breathing chick in there. I wrapped it in a wet paper towel and put it back in the bater, is there anything else I should do??

 

[luvmychicknkids]

What day are you on?

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

OOOPS! OH MY! I think you did what I would have done. How big of a hole did you poke and how far along is the egg?

 

[steffpeck]

Today is day 21. The hole is about the size of a dime.

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, keep humidity up and don't open the bator again till day 23. I try not to open it till most are out or past day 22. Chicks can hatch as late as day 24, had one make it on day 25 when I thought all was lost. Less is more when hatching. Good luck with the rest.

 

[steffpeck]

Do I keep it wrapped in the paper towel or take it out?? My humidity is running about 75%, is that ok??

 

[Akane]

If you keep the membrane damp enough it should hatch. I hatched one with the shell broken over the air cell and a damp paper towel over the end. The problem is with removing the egg to check it the membrane can dry out and become too tough for the chick to hatch or have the chick stick to the shell and be unable to hatch. You shouldn't open an incubator or remove any eggs unless you have to or it's several days past their due date and your sure they are dead. Also make sure the paper towel isn't too wet because if the chick breathes in any water it will drown. You may have to help it hatch but give it some time to see if it starts breaking the shell on it's own. I would remove the paper towel then if you can do so without the humidity dropping too much and the membrane drying out.

 

[klf73]

How is it today? I did the same thing with my current hatch. I had 4 eggs with nothing, last pip was yesterday morning. So after opening 3 dead chicks I opened a live one on top. Not sure if mine will hatch though, it's beak is longer on the bottom (underbite)

I took a shell "top" from one of the hatched chicks, cleaned it out and set it on top. I checked and the membrane is staying moist so I am gonna leave it. I tried the paper towel thing before with some success, and also lost one cuz I think it absorbed too much of the water

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Good luck, hope all is well
Krista

 

[steffpeck]

I stayed up all night to make sure the membranes didn't dry out, fell asleep about 6:00 this morning and when I got up about 9:00 this morning, it was pretty dried out, I put a little more water on it, and it looked like the veins had died back so I tried to help it out. I could tell while helping it that it's breathing was slowing down, by time I got it out, it had died.

 

[klf73]

Sorry it didn't work out :aww

Krista