Need Help on cracked egg please........

[Barnyard]

I have a broody hen that is working on round 2 of being broody. She started off with 6 eggs and now she is down to 3. Well I went to water everybody this morning and 1 of the 3 was cracked, well broke behind fixing, but it is not leaking anything. I brought it in the house to candle it and the little chick is still alive and kicking like crazy. I am not sure what day it is on but if I had to guess I would say around day 7, give or take!! My daughter is having a cow wanting to try and save this poor baby. What are the chances of this chick hatching? I have put it in the bator with a warm wrag wrapped around it. The temp is right on 99.5 and the humidity is a little high being at 60%. Any suggestions would help.....Thank you in advance!!!

 

[MissPrissy]

Seal the crack with some melted birthday candle wax.

 

[Barnyard]

Um, well I would if there was a crack to seal. The end with the aircell is missing part of the shell.

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
Do you have your hen in the coop with the rest of the layers ? IF SO , I had to move my hen , the nest with her eggs and put her in a cage , protected from the rest of the flock . I found her off the nest once . She was eating and drinking , while OFF another hen jumped into her nest on top of the eggs . I was scared the eggs would get cracked or broken , SO I MOVED HER ...

 

[MissPrissy]

Well, then - there is nothing I know to do. Over the next 14 days the egg is likely to dry out very fast and most likely a bacteria infection will begin.

 

[Barnyard]

Yeah I kinda figured that would be the response I got. I guess we will just see what happens then.

 

[klf73]

ok, the scientific part of me would take another piece of shell and graft it on with wax, making sure the shell was washed well. Would it work? no idea, but at least I would feel I did my best.

Krista

 

[klf73]

Ok, now you seriously got me thinking about this. Since this is early on, from what you described, the air cell shouldn't be to large and definitely not where the chick would normally pip. I would get an eggshell, wash it up (since this is just a barrier I don't think washing would affect the chick since this part won't even touch it or it's liquid contents). Let the "artificial" shell dry, cut it just slightly larger than the hole. Holding the egg on it's side, hold the piece on and drip wax so it does't go towards the chick (because you don't know how old, so you won't be able to remove the wax at day18) and seal it shut. The wax shouldn't affect hatching because the air cell should grow and be below the wax. I would then set it in the bator with humidity in the high 40's to low 50's. It still needs to lose moisture so you don't want it too high.

This is what I would do, just cuz I don't give up on anything

Makes me want to try this for an experiment, but would feel bad if it didn't work if I inflicted the damage.

Can you post a pic?

Krista

 

[Akane]

That might work. I did cover a broken air cell with a damp paper towel and hatched that chick but it was only a few days from hatching. I can see a lot of issues including keeping the paper towel wet enough but not enough to drown the chick for another 2 weeks.

 

[MissPrissy]

Those are all good ideas and worth a shot.

My main concern is that there is exposure and the egg is no longer sterile inside therefore the introduction of bacteria has happened. Now if the bacteria is bad or not and effects the chick I have no idea. Also as the chick grows and the exposed membrane begins to dry out it could start to weep at any time - like the loss of amniotic fluid.

It is a good learning experiment to see how tough that chick is and how much you can help.