*pic warning* Chick beak split malformed, genetic vs incubation?

[HomesteadNowhere]

I had one chick lag in my last hatch. There was this one that had pipped but was not making progress for hours. I finally helped it and gave it more hours. No progress. I started assisting the hatch and it seemed to have problems.

At first I thought possibly it had pipped and hit a vein that was still in the membrane, there was some blood but seemed like maybe a few drops. I had pulled back enough shell to watch the chick and it would not have alot to do to break out itself. It wasn't peeping and it was gasping pretty good and didn't seem normal like the "dang that was alot of work" resting chick.
When I started to break more shell to just let the chick roll out of the shell when it got up the energy.. But as soon as I did there was bleeding from what looked to be the membrane. And the belly where the final sealing up around the yolk is done seemed to be maybe not entirely ready, though not bad or opened. There was alot of blood for a tiny in-egg-chick and I decided to put it down. It had several things against it and would have been suffering.

The malformed beak has me wondering how likely it is that this is genetic and I'll need to watch for it happening more? Or is it more likely related to incubator variation in temperature/humidity?
The lower beak seemed to be formed fine that I could tell. The upper beak was completely split and it looked like there was a small hole where nostrils should have formed. It may have led right to sinuses, I don't see how it could have ate or drank without inhaling stuff constantly.

 

[BelovedBirds]

I had one chick lag in my last hatch. There was this one that had pipped but was not making progress for hours. I finally helped it and gave it more hours. No progress. I started assisting the hatch and it seemed to have problems.

At first I thought possibly it had pipped and hit a vein that was still in the membrane, there was some blood but seemed like maybe a few drops. I had pulled back enough shell to watch the chick and it would not have alot to do to break out itself. It wasn't peeping and it was gasping pretty good and didn't seem normal like the "dang that was alot of work" resting chick.
When I started to break more shell to just let the chick roll out of the shell when it got up the energy.. But as soon as I did there was bleeding from what looked to be the membrane. And the belly where the final sealing up around the yolk is done seemed to be maybe not entirely ready, though not bad or opened. There was alot of blood for a tiny in-egg-chick and I decided to put it down. It had several things against it and would have been suffering.

The malformed beak has me wondering how likely it is that this is genetic and I'll need to watch for it happening more? Or is it more likely related to incubator variation in temperature/humidity?
The lower beak seemed to be formed fine that I could tell. The upper beak was completely split and it looked like there was a small hole where nostrils should have formed. It may have led right to sinuses, I don't see how it could have ate or drank without inhaling stuff constantly.

I don't quite understand why you culled him, to stop blood loss, simply hold a dry paper towel to the bleeding. It sounds like the hatch could have been too rushed, each step needs to be done very carefully with a lot of caution and breaks. In the photos a lot of the shell is broken down the side- when it should only be broken over the air cell to avoid veins. Here is an article for next time: Assisted hatching article
The blood loss isn't always a death sentence, and once the chick is out it can be given a good strength boost.

The beak is interesting, my main concern would be how well he could breathe. Likely he wouldn't have survived, based on his nares.
That may be why he was gasping.

Were these eggs from your own birds, or were they bought from another breeder? My first worry would be genetics.
What was temp and humidity throughout?

 

[Crazychickengirl2]

How would you put a chick down?