March 2022 Hatch-A-Long

[Chookwagn]

Since before noon.

4-5 hours?

You could try wetting it and see if that helps.... if there is no more progress in the next 4 hours I would be assisting it out fully

 

[Chookwagn]

Since before noon.

4-5 hours?

8 times out of 10 I haven't had much luck with the chicks that have had to be helped..... mostly they can't get out by themselves for a reason and they never seemed to thrive as well

 

[3KillerBs]

8 times out of 10 I haven't had much luck with the chicks that have had to be helped..... mostly they can't get out by themselves for a reason and they never seemed to thrive as well

As I said above, I don't plan on doing much assisting. But if it was caused by my opening the incubator to remove the others, who really needed to get out, then that's one of the situations DH and I talked about possibly doing an assist.

I have that article bookmarked and will look it up. But first I'll dampen her membrane to see if it helps.

 

[Chookwagn]

As I said above, I don't plan on doing much assisting. But if it was caused by my opening the incubator to remove the others, who really needed to get out, then that's one of the situations DH and I talked about possibly doing an assist.

I have that article bookmarked and will look it up. But first I'll dampen her membrane to see if it helps.

I'm with you there... I only assist if I think its going to be worth it or the chick has almost zipped all the way and the membrane has got a little dry.

My theory is that if the chick can't zip itself 80% of the way itself ..... its going to have issues and therefore not worth the time and effort.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

As I said above, I don't plan on doing much assisting. But if it was caused by my opening the incubator to remove the others, who really needed to get out, then that's one of the situations DH and I talked about possibly doing an assist.

I have that article bookmarked and will look it up. But first I'll dampen her membrane to see if it helps.

It wouldn't take much to assist at this point. If you pull back the top shell, the fat end, it should push out on its own.
I open the incubator too and this does happen sometimes. It's not the chicks fault.

 

[3KillerBs]

OK, that was a good spot on the dried out membrane.

I started to dampen it and realized that it was dry as leather. So I took tweezers and peeled the dried membrane away. She started to kick vigorously, so I used tweezers to take little chips out of each edge of the zip where the membrane was dry until I hit soft membrane and she pushed her way out in about 30 seconds after that.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

OK, that was a good spot on the dried out membrane.

I started to dampen it and realized that it was dry as leather. So I took tweezers and peeled the dried membrane away. She started to kick vigorously, so I used tweezers to take little chips out of each edge of the zip where the membrane was dry until I hit soft membrane and she pushed her way out in about 30 seconds after that.

Great! No reason to let it die.

 

[3KillerBs]

She was out so fast that I couldn't even get good pictures of her doing it.

I wonder if, had I left the other chicks in there, them kicking the eggs around would have opened things up for her?

But I was worried about them getting dehydrated in the incubator heat -- not to mention the nasty poop building up in the bottom. One of them had been hatched for 18 hours already.

 

[Chookwagn]

OK, that was a good spot on the dried out membrane.

I started to dampen it and realized that it was dry as leather. So I took tweezers and peeled the dried membrane away. She started to kick vigorously, so I used tweezers to take little chips out of each edge of the zip where the membrane was dry until I hit soft membrane and she pushed her way out in about 30 seconds after that.

Perfect

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

She was out so fast that I couldn't even get good pictures of her doing it.

I wonder if, had I left the other chicks in there, them kicking the eggs around would have opened things up for her?

But I was worried about them getting dehydrated in the incubator heat -- not to mention the nasty poop building up in the bottom. One of them had been hatched for 18 hours already.

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I would have took the chicks out like you did. Sometimes their will be a chick that starts a zip and rests and it dries up. Then I help by taking the top off and letting them push out on their own.