Intervention: Helping Your Chicks Hatch

[chappinchicks]

We have two eggs that are 6 days overdue. yesterday I poked a hole in one to "disect" the unformed egg and found feathers! I put it back in the incubator. It wasn't moving. Should I just go ahead and help it or do you think it is already dead?

 

[wolfbayfarm]

My very first incubator hatch we had seven and lost one. I was thrilled with hatching my own. We have two roosters(very old Rhode Island Red named Kenny and a newer bard rock rooster) that could be the daddy of rir, black star and barred r ocks. Anxious to see how they turn out

 

[mordred25]

I think 6 days past due is probably too far. There have been cases on here and other sites of up to 4 days over, but if the rest have hatched pretty well together and on time I would have said there was a great possibility that there has been a problem and the chick has died after pipping.
With the rest coming out as normal, I would not lose too much sleep about the last two as you must have had most of the conditions right to begin with. As can be seen on the site from others experience, it is very rare to get a 100% hatch rate.

Enjoy the bundles that you have and let the others be.

Good luck

Adrian

 

[FloydBhere]

Very helpful post...could the dry membrane issues come from pre lockdown humidity levels?

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Very helpful post...could the dry membrane issues come from pre lockdown humidity levels?

Hi, Yes, pre lockdown humidity issues are notorious for dry hatching. At that point, if you know you had low humidity issues all along, hatching assistance will almost be required, and it can be more tricky to do.

 

[FloydBhere]

Hi, Yes, pre lockdown humidity issues are notorious for dry hatching. At that point, if you know you had low humidity issues all along, hatching assistance will almost be required, and it can be more tricky to do.

I'm my area with the heater pulling the humidity out of the house, I should have kept my humidity up instead of allowing it to drop below 20 at times...I learned a lot ... Gonna try to incubate at 101.5 these xl RIR eggs seem to need more heat. 8 out 20 pipped...6 are alive

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

I'm my area with the heater pulling the humidity out of the house, I should have kept my humidity up instead of allowing it to drop below 20 at times...I learned a lot ... Gonna try to incubate at 101.5 these xl RIR eggs seem to need more heat. 8 out 20 pipped...6 are alive

I'm sorry to hear about your low hatch rate-it's hard I know. Heat and air conditioning are tough on home incubation. The air conditioner in the summer can pull the humidity out as much as heater in winter. Truthfully, the best time to hatch is spring. I have found over the years, there is a much better hatch rate (with less assistance) if we kind of follow what the chickens do naturally. Springtime seems to be their time to go broody and hatching w/an incubator goes MUCH easier also, summer would be ideal too, except we have air conditioning and the chickens don't haha. I am not saying to restrict incubating to spring only, I am simply saying it's much easier on us if we do it then lol.

Winter will be more of a challenge to regulate your incubator humidity and temps. Keep a close eye on both as many times through the day and night as you can. And yes, I agree about the temp for the RIR eggs, they are a large egg and a thicker shell, so you will want to keep temps at 101.5. I wish you the best on your next hatch and enjoy the little chicken babies you have!

 

[HorseMadWhovian]

I've had trouble one of my ducklings has its bill out and the membrane shrunk so it can't get it back in and open the rest of the egg, also csn you please give me the membrane instructions in case I need to.

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

I've had trouble one of my ducklings has its bill out and the membrane shrunk so it can't get it back in and open the rest of the egg, also csn you please give me the membrane instructions in case I need to.

Hi, I know a duckling is a little different than a chick, but the advice I am including below should be helpful. Remember to take your time as much as possible, unless your duckling is really suffering and you see its life is lessening, then you have to weigh helping immediately vs taking your time.
Here is info I previously posted:

NOTE: If a chick does not or can not rotate to zip itself out, it has not had a chance to 'sever its ties' so to speak with the blood vessels in the rubbery membrane. Working on a chick that was not able to rotate and sever the blood vessels itself, is tricky! There will be a fine balance of trying to move the rubbery membrane away from the chicks head and shoulders and trying to keep it from losing too much blood during the process. BUT IT CAN BE DONE. It is SCARY and nerve racking! That is why it is so important to keep track of the time from pip to when you intervene. Time will help allow some of the blood vessels to dry up after the chick has pipped. It won't be as good as if the chick is able to zip, but, time can help lessen the bleeding. It's a fine balance of waiting for either the vessels to dry, or keeping the membrane moist so it can get out itself, versus going ahead and removing the membrane because you think the chick will perish if you don't.

I have had several experiences after zipping the shell- I have to decide to continue to help remove from the membrane, OR decide to keep the membrane moist and try to let the chick remove itself from the membranes (the papery white one is left on for the process of letting the chick get out on its own). I have had some great results moistening and waiting on the chick to exit, and I have also lost a few with waiting. I have had success the few times I have gone ahead and removed the paper and rubbery membranes (albeit with some blood loss) and those chicks survived well with no after affects.

If you feel the chick is struggling to breathe and movement/noise is lessening after helping zip the shell and moistening the outer membrane, that is most likely when you need to get it out of that rubbery membrane.
What you do is, SLOWLY, working from the original pip site, try to ROLL, STRETCH, or GENTLY GENTLY SLIDE the rubbery membrane DOWN away from the chicks breathing site (usually their beak will be close to their original pip). This action will typically reveal some bleeding as the vessels are being stretched. You can apply either flour, or similar blood clotting agent to the bleed (keep away from beak/nostrils!), and re wrap your chick in moist cloth and rest it in the incubator for a little. That gives the vessel TIME to dry on its own. Then after some rest- 1/2 hour to an hour at a time, you continue the process until you have the chicks head and shoulders free so it can expand and contract easily to breathe.

Your goal is to get the 'shrink wrap' effect removed and allow the chick to breathe easier, but keep it in the lower half of membrane and shell in order for the rest of the vessels and the umbilical etc to close up. Sometimes you will HAVE to remove the majority or the rubbery membrane FAST and in a hurry to save a chick. If you get to that point, it will be a matter of thinking your choice at that point is that if you leave the chick in the rubbery membrane it might die, and that by helping, it might also die. I have been to the point of tears knowing a chick was giving up and I could see the will to live leaving its body, and my teen son told me that it was surely going to die in the membrane, so why not try? He was right. It was a bit messy (somewhat bloody), but the chicks are well and alive today. You WILL see blood. You WILL get nervous. But when you get to that life or death point (stuck in the membrane and struggling), and you know you might lose the chick either way, THAT is the point when you should at least TRY, and know that you actively made an effort. Believe me, watching them struggle to move and breathe stuck in their membrane until they die is heart wrenching and guilt inducing.

If you have any questions, or you feel I left something out, please PM me. I am not online all day, but I will do my best to answer questions as promptly as I get them.

Thanks,
rooridgefarm (formerly FOWLWEATHERFRIENDS)

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

PS: For anyone interested... I have used the above direct method of membrane removal in an emergency 'birth' where the chick needed out NOW on Serama chicks as well as other breeds. The Serama have a lot of hatching issues when using an incubator as the shells are so small, delicate,and sensitive. The Serama bantam chicks oftentimes are packed in and can't rotate to zip, so you may have to assist them more than some other bantam breeds.