Intervention: Helping Your Chicks Hatch

[RooRidgeFarm]

OMG a heap of noise this morning and we have 9 perfect ducklings! Turns out the only one I did pick up was rotten!

Thank you Roo for the reply!

Awesome! Nothing better than live babies! Candling can be tough at the end sometimes. I had an experience with an egg I candled after all the others had pipped. I saw movement inside and so I waited a day longer. One of my kids took the egg outside and pipped it himself and...whew! It was a BAD egg. The movement I saw when candling was apparently the remains of the semi developed chick and the gasses were creating the 'movement' I saw. It was a close call, because it could have exploded everywhere in the incubator.

So happy to hear you have ducklings

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

I have a mallard duck egg on day 30 and I can hear tapping and movement inside but not sure if it has even internally piped yet. What is the absolute longest it could take for it to hatch. I also noticed last night that the air cell seems to shift when the egg is turned or tiltsed? Is that a detached air cell and if so what's that mean for my little duck wil he still be able to hatch?

Hi, Hopefully your duckling has hatched by now (as I just saw your post a bit late). The tapping and wiggling usually means they are getting ready to pip externally soon. My experience is that they have pipped internally when I feel alot of movement, and after internal pip, it could be another 12 to 24 hours to see the external pip. If you have other eggs that should be hatching the same time and the others have already pipped externally, then you should keep a good eye on the one that hasn't externally pipped. Several posts back on this thread I wrote detailed instructions as to how to pip an egg yourself if you need to. You can message me if you need those directions.

As far as the air cell moving, I am not familiar with that. The one thing I know is that the air cell is always at a slant or an angle as they develop and especially near hatching.

Please message me if you need some more answers.

 

[charlie80]

Hey,this is our 2nd attempt at incubating. After the fort try last year with three that hatched only to die I was very reluctant to try again but my wife wanted to again and this time we had a bit more information accumulated. Well so far 2 pipped and hatched out on their own but a 3rd who had pipped didn't seen to be making much progress. After 6hrs and reading this thread I decided I had to st least try to help the Lil one. I carefully picked the shell off the membrane was dry no blood or yoke . i put it back in the incubator for a little while and then into the brooder. Its still chirping away but its also has not been able to get its footing and move around like the other 2 already are. I'm so afraid I did something wrong as it was curled up still. Its stretching its legs but can't seem to sit up. I hope the Lil one makes it. Any advice would help. I'm going to put anther small wet rag in the incubater as the humidity seems to be too low.

 

[charlie80]

The 3rd chick i tried to save didn't make it

 

[RobinB84]

The 3rd chick i tried to save didn't make it

Awww. I am so sorry. Happy to hear that you have 2 healthy chickies though. The little guy I helped out was slower than the others for awhile. I took him out once a day for electrolyte water/wet crumbles for a week or so. He just started flying this week, so I guess he is doing well

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

The 3rd chick i tried to save didn't make it

I just came across your posts. I am sorry to hear the 3rd didn't make it, any loss is hard when hatching chicks. I don't think it was anything that you did-I think you did everything correctly. Sometimes, for whatever reason, some chicks just do not thrive. I have had several of different breeds where I hatch a bunch, and then one of them dies close after hatching. Occasionally it may be a genetic thing, and sometimes the effort it takes for them to hatch is just too much.

Enjoy the two you have and don't worry too much about the other-you did a good job

 

[jessicacjsmommy]

Helped me out a ton. My silkie piped the middle then breathing was horrible and not moving so we helped ours out. Growing amazing but is so in love with my hand. Hope this next egg hatches soon cause shes lonely.

 

[chookenqueen1]

Your advice really helped me... I bought 6 Buff Orpington fertilized eggs and put them in the incubator. Exactly 21 days later (Today actually!) they started to hatch and without the knowledge of keeping the membrane moist I would have lost the lot! As it was only three were viable and so far with your help two are out with one to go... Love this site and all the information it gives is spot on!!!
Thank you again for all your help.

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Your advice really helped me... I bought 6 Buff Orpington fertilized eggs and put them in the incubator. Exactly 21 days later (Today actually!) they started to hatch and without the knowledge of keeping the membrane moist I would have lost the lot! As it was only three were viable and so far with your help two are out with one to go... Love this site and all the information it gives is spot on!!!
Thank you again for all your help.

Good job! So glad the advice here helped you

 

[DebbieParker]

Hi, I read your post on helping a chick be born.mi just hatched six healthy chicks but the seventh chick didn't even pip. I was scared thstmitmwould die so I made a pip hole and heard it peep. I left it alone for an hour or two and it still didn't start zipping and I didn't hear peeps. I didn't know what to do, so I slowly peeled the shell, trying to leave the membrane in tact. The membrane was white so I wet it. The chick moved a little. I left it for a while longer and then pushed the membrane around the chicks face to free the face. It moved a little and panted. I left it for a while,longer with still no movement. There were blood circles and big veins with blood in them so I left all that us disturbed. The chick is so lethargic I'm afraid that it's dying. Do you have any advice? Thanks!