Live chick during eggtopsy

Omani

Songster
13 Years
Aug 10, 2009
172
11
221
Machias,NY
I always do "egg-topsies" before I toss eggs that didn't hatch, just to see what went wrong. Today is day 24 so I thought I'd be safe. I turned the incubator off, cleaned out the shells and took the remaining eggs outside. I opened six to find that most died about half way through. Number seven was a bummer because it looked like it was ready to pip but didn't. I put it on the table with the rest so I could take notes. When I picked it up again, it moved. I poked it with my finger. Yup, it's still alive. I have never, NEVER had a live chick like this before. I had removed the big end up to the edge of the air cell in anticipation of taking a closer look.
Luckily, I had a big enough piece of a hatched egg to put over it as a patch. I put it back in the incubator.
Does anyone have any recommendations of what to do next?
 
I've been checking it every two hours. It's still alive. I think the patch has slowed the evaporation but not stopped it. I increased the humidity to 80%. I'll check again in a couple of hours to see if that helped.
I'm willing to entertain any ideas, no matter how crazy, that anybody has to help the little guy.
 
I have had a few that did that for me I have an older post that I marked zombie chicks lol. In my experience it's a hit or miss it will hatch or get stuck and if it does hatch they don't always live. you can let it try out. It's own I would make sure you keep it moist and don't let it dry out. If you want to try to help (sometimes can backfire if you knick a vein) If you can see any parts that DO NOT have veins you can try to help loosen it from the are and moisten the area. If you are not 100% sure if the sack has absorbed do not let it drink the water if possiable because it may stop the absorption process. I have have SEVERAL hatches and come across this from time to time... especially since you removed the top it does have a chance of drying up in the Shell so again moisture is key. Keep it up and please post what happens.
 
Woah! have you taken any walks across the lake recently?
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I had one hatch a week after I patched it. Mother duck hatched some babies and left the rest of the eggs for dead. I found one with a quarter size hole in it and patched it. It and the 4 other eggs hatched. It was the first one out of the shell. I boiled the shell before I super glued it on. Good luck.
 
No change so far. The patch isn't doing as good a job retaining moisture as I had hoped. The humidity is up to 80%, but the membrane is still drying out. I set up a drip system that releases one drop every minute or so. It rolls down the egg and spreads across the membrane. I'm hoping that will do the trick. I'll check again later tonight.
 

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