Late on bringing you up to speed, but there are eggs in my bators! :)

[CarriBrown]

YAY!!! Keep us updated and post some pictures!! Who's the daddy?? Is it ChickenDuck? We still need some updated pictures of him... remember?

Good luck getting to sleep tonight!

 

[4H kids and mom]

Last night I sat and watched as this little black beak poked through its pipped hole and began 'zipping' the shell a little at a time. I tried to stay up, but I was just too tired.

Ok, so now its been overnight and several hours and there is very little progress. I heard the chick peeping early this morning, so I rushed downstairs hoping to see that it had hatched. Nope. Now since about 7 am I've heard nothing and no longer see its little beak poking in and out of the hole.

I have the humidity at 85% (which is a little high, but we have our air conditioner on so I want to compensate?) and the membranes are visible and soft. They don't feel rubbery or tough at all and are damp but not sopping wet. I lightly tapped on the egg and heard a movement but no noise. So, I'm back to waiting it out. I will help it out if I have to, but I prefer to let nature take its course. I know they rest for periods of time, but how long is TOO long without anymore progress, less or no noise, and less or no movement?

I'm eager to know what sort of chick it is. All I've seen is the littlest black beak...

 

[Judymae]

I'm so worried! I want the baby out and healthy! Right now!

 

[tiffanyh]

I dont know--but I heard if the chirping slows down or stops, the chick may be in trouble. Maybe you should help if there is a chance that you are going to lose it anyway. I know the main opinion is not to, but it seems that some people do it successfully in situations like yours. There is actually a post about it somewhere on here..........

I hope it does well!

 

[4H kids and mom]

I decided to help it out. I've bred parrots in the past, so I know alot about zipping the shell and not the membrane, so I felt confident that a chicken egg wouldn't be much different.

I put the egg on a warmed towel on my lap and began chipping away along the shell without hurting the membrane. The membrane was moist, but not too wet, so I didn't worry that it was too tough for the chick to get out. As I chipped away slowly, I spoke to the egg but got no response and no movement.

Once I had zipped all around the shell, I put the egg back in the bator and waited. Nothing. So, after about an hour and a half or so, I took the egg back out and gently began working some of the membrane. The chick fell out onto my hand but was still.

Yolk sac not absorbed, but fully formed little all black chick with black legs and beak. Poor dear.

I knew going into this that I was bound to run into heartache eventually. Sigh. Do you think there was anything I could have done differently? I keep thinking I should have helped him out last night when I saw him working so hard to get free. Darn. Its really hard though not knowing the real hatch dates on these eggs. Wish my neighbor payed a little more attention to things like this.

On a good note, the little blue/green egg that was only slightly pipped last night, has now got quite a good bit of zipping done too! I've seen the beak (black and yellow) peaking in and out and I've been peeping at it to incourage him/her.

 

[BirdBrain]

Sorry about your little guy. What it going on with little #2?

 

[4H kids and mom]

I'm going to start a new thread, because everything has changed, for the better and worse.

Updates on new thread I'm calling "Ok, lets try this again and do it RIGHT this time..."