I am not trying to get my hopes up, but I think a chick who was wounded today whilst hatching is going to make it. As LONG as infection doesn't set in. It is up and alert and very active.
The hen who was sitting on these eggs decided to move off the nest with the other chicks while this one was still in the process of hatching (a very late chick) I think another hen came along to eat the egg shell off the chick. And hurt the chick badly.
Yep, that is the chick's skull. I had two options: cull, or treat. For the moment, I chose treat. It was pretty dirty when I first found the chick, so I had to flush it out with saline. A thread and needle (sewing needle, as the needles in the suture kits I have are too large for such a tiny patient), time, and chlorhexidine later, and the chick looks less grisly. I had to muster all the hand steadiness I had, since the chick is so small, and the eye was very close to the edges of the wound. Time will tell if the chick's eye was damaged or not.
I was planning on setting eggs at the end of today in this, but for a day or two, the incubator is a ChICU (Chick Intensive Care Unit). The incubator is newly bleached, with a freshly washed dishcloth on the base. I also smeared some triple antibiotic ointment (non painkiller kind, since I know that is bad for chickens) on the chick's wound.
Resting after the ordeal in the Brinsea ChICU