Not sure if I should assisit

[aplynn]

Not sure if I should assist this little chick, she has been like this for about 6 hours and first pipped about 18 hours ago, the other chick keeps pecking at her. The humidity has been between 67-70. I have 3 other eggs that have pips and am so afraid to open the bator. This chick is malpositioned. HELP

 

[silkienrescues]

Aplynn, Its been 5 hours and no one has helped you, so I'm going to give my totally inexperienced opinion. I paniced when I saw a chick had pipped low and died, so I opened the incubator, but before I did I'd had an electric frypan in the room steaming to help keep my humidity in the incubator up, so i turned it on full and really warmed and steamed the room. I suggest take the smallest amount of shell off, and watch for bleeding, if nothing go further, checking each time. mine had begun shrink wrapping, and I fully believe had I not helped they would have died. All 8 chicks are doing really well, and I dont regret helping BUT i'm not hatching breeding stock, so am not bound by survival of the fittest. Any bleeding means the chick isn't ready, put it back.

Good luck, I wish I could do more to help.

oh i used long nosed but blunt tweezers to crack tiny bits of shell at a time.

Lea

 

[Outpost JWB]

Good advice. Only help when needed. It is nerve racking to watch these young ones struggle to get out. I've helped a few out and most generally if they need help getting out, turns out later they are the weak ones.
As Lea posted above, sometimes they get shrink wrapped and it's impossible for them to get out. Any sign of blood means stop! Put it back in the incubator because it wasn't done. Hope everything turns out well for you. Keep us posted.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

While a good share of malepositioned pippers can hatch by themselves, a good majority have to be helped. The second hatch I did I had one just like that, after no progress over 18 hours I checked her to find her positioning was extrememly messed up and she would need to be assisted. That was almost a year ago. She turned out to be one of my best egg layers. Had I not helped I would have lost a perfectly healthy (and strong) chick. I am a big advocate for assisting as long as they have been pipped at least 18-24, and when they are malepositioned. (And the hatcher is comfortable with assisting.) I have only assisted one hatch where the chick later died (digestive problems.) A lot of survival and health of assisted chicks depends on the reason that they need assisting. If the chick is past day 22 and needs assiting, the chances of it being a strong and healthy chick are a lot lower because of the delayed development/hatch. A day 19-22 pipper that is malepositioned and needs help due to being turned wrong has a much better chance of being healthy. A chick that needs to be assisted because the membrane has started to dry around them and glue them in, has a good chance of being healthy and strong. It's the late developers or the misshappen/deformed chicks that you run into the most problems with, but you generally don't know the reason for needing the assist before doing it, so it boils down to what chances you want to take. I believe in giving them all a chance and will help if needed and I will deal with whatever I have to after. I can't stand the thought of loosing a perfectly good chick. Some people won't under the guise of survival of the fittest.

 

[aplynn]

I did end up assisting the little one and she/he is doing great. I only assisted a little I helped her unzip the putter shell but left the membrane for the baby to do on her own, after I removed the putter she'll I took a qtip and very lightly moistened the membrane that I had exposed, within an hour she was finishing up the zipper and got herself out. I do not think she would have if I ha not stripped the putter shell.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I did end up assisting the little one and she/he is doing great. I only assisted a little I helped her unzip the putter shell but left the membrane for the baby to do on her own, after I removed the putter she'll I took a qtip and very lightly moistened the membrane that I had exposed, within an hour she was finishing up the zipper and got herself out. I do not think she would have if I ha not stripped the putter shell.

That's awesome! Congrats! Good job!

 

[silkienrescues]

thats lovely to hear Aplynn. How did the others go?

Lea

 

[tiffmw10]

Congrats!