My Chick Hatching All Right?

[LovelyBantam]

This morning was the day I went into lockdown, so I added sponges to boost up the humidity. When I was doing so, I noticed that an egg was pipped and shaking. I put the lid back down and she/he continued to peck and started to chirp (not much at all). Now all it's doing is shaking and chirping (no more, no less than before). Is my chick all right? If I knew if it was pipped I would have never opened the lid. I know not to intervene.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had that happen before. A chick hatching that early could be from the egg being stored too warm before incubation started but is most likely caused by the average incubating temperature being a bit high. You might want to try adjusting your incubating temperature down a bit before your next incubation.

In spite of what you may read on this forum, you probably did not cause any problems with what you did. It is possible to shrink-wrap a chick by opening the incubator after the egg has pipped, but there is a big difference in what is possible and what will actuallly happen. I've opened my incubator a few times when chicks have pipped. I don't like doing it and I don't recommend it as a general practice but sometimes you have to weigh the options and take your chances.

I have shrink-wrapped a couple of chicks doing that, but there have been a whole lot that were pipped and were not shrink-wrapped. If I were you, I would not stress over it. It's done, you can't change that and you probably did no harm.

You might consider something like this if you need to add more water to the incubator during lockdown. I go in through a vent hole.

 

[LovelyBantam]

Thank you so much.

 

[redmouse]

If he's still shaking and chirping he's probably doing fine. They can take 24 hours or more from pip to hatch.

Also I have had chicks hatch out just fine when they were completely out of the incy so don't worry too much. If you put the lid down quickly and the humidity is back up where it should be the liitle cheep shouldn't have got too dry and is probably just taking its time absorbing the yolk sack etc.

I'd just keep an eye on it and see how it goes. It's nerve wracking being a chick Mum!

 

[LovelyBantam]

It's nerve wracking being a chick Mum!

That it is. That it is. Especially when it's your first hatch. All you think is:

Shrink wrapped. Can't get out. What's wrong? Is the thing okay?

 

[sparkleeyes]

Well that's somewhere where I'm at now. A NERVOUS WRECK!!!!

I never heard of this shrink wrapping thing either. We have a homemade "incy" which now I have a new thing to worry about! So I do think ours is well vented, but what if it's too well vented, I thought it needed more ventillation at the 18 day mark. But then what if it's too much and it shrink wraps??? There's no pip yet though. Late bloomer.

(Where's the sleepy chick smiley, cause I believe that's what he must be doing.)

 

[yo burrill]

As long as you can keep your humidity up all will be well. If you do find an egg is getting dry you can wet your finger with warm water and dampen the exposed membrane that is dry to soften it.

 

[LovelyBantam]

How do I know if it's getting dry? Is there a certain look to the membrane?

 

[Nsampsel]

How do I know if it's getting dry? Is there a certain look to the membrane?

It will start to look yellowish & you will actually see it begin to shrink down around the chick & stick to it.

 

[yo burrill]

Yep It will actually look shrink wrapped in the membrane if it starts getting to dry.