Is chick swallowing during hatch absorbing yolk?

[lutz123]

I'm curious, and trying to keep this separate from my other post. If a chick has externally pipped and is occasionally making a swallowing motion, does this mean it's absorbing yolk? I saw that it swallows the remaining whites while simultaneously absorbing yolk, but does that happen when the beak is out?

 

[silkiechicken]

There shouldn't be any whites per say, the chick should have sucked up all that protein already during development and just a bit of non "whites-like" fluid left. As for yolk adsorbing, that happens through the naval. The yolk starts to adsorb a day or so before they pip, and can be another 24-48 hours to fully adsorb. Not really linked to swallowing motions per se.