Please help! One chick won't hatch!

[ChickieBooBoo]

If a chick can't make it out on its own I don't help it, they usually have something wrong with them and are just too weak to survive. Save yourself the heartache of seeing it die in a few days after all your hard work.

 

[colebarnhart]

Agree with above post. Just leave it alone and see if it comes around, it may have not formed correctly and shouldn't or wouldn't have hatced anyway. I think sometimes we try too hard to play God and want to help and save, but as the old saying goes if they can't do it by themselves then they weren't supposed to live.

 

[Urban Chaos]

Is the membrane right under the shell? Is there another "membrane" around the chick?

 

[KIDDSBANTAMS]

Yes the membrane is right under the skin, my chick was stuck to the membrane and that is why it could be get out. I believe in mother nature but I also believe there is a time we are suppose to help those in need and it was big and strong just stuck.

 

[Chick1043]

Good luck!! Post pics of it please!!

 

[djennings]

I am new at hatching also, but so far I have hatched out 11 out of 11 silkies with helping about 4 of them out of their shells.
I take the egg out of hatchery and wrap in warm rag while I pick away just the top part of shell, trying to leave bottom of shell alone. Then I will start at where beak is sticking out a gently with twizzers pull membrane back. I keep doing that until I see the inner membrane that actually has the veins on them. If they are not red anymore I remove very carefully a little. Take a break, keep washcloth moist and warm stick back in incubator.

 

[kuntrychick]

The baby is still holding on but not doing well. It still chirps & moves to a few different spots in the incubator but it's little head is still turned against it. I'm not sure if that's a deformity (which may have been why it couldn't get out of the shell) or if it just got so used to holding it's head like that because of being in the shell so long. It still has that yolk sac with blood vessels on it. I just don't know what to do for it. I feel so helpless!

 

[stellas mommy]

And this is why when I was talking to an experienced hatcher (I'm new at it too) He told me to leave the baby if they cant make it out on their own it wasnt meant to be. The mom doesnt help them out, so neither should we.

 

[Uniontown Poultry]

The impulse to help a stuck chick is inevitable. There are soooo many factors (besides just a chick being weak) that can interfere with hatching. I know a breeder who, despite her better judgment, helps the half-hatched ones out (she bands and observes them for health and vigor as they grow). I myself am constantly raising one or two picked chicks, or spraddle-leg chicks all the time, it seems. I totally understand the urge to help, and it is a decision that all of us who hatch need to face at one time or another. I won't knock your decision. That said, I don't hold out much hope when the egg sac is hanging around. When it hasn't been fully absorbed, then the navel is not fully healed and closed. And the navel is like a super-highway for bacteria to ride, right into the major organs of your chick. If your chick absorbs the sac and is showing signs of coming 'round, I'd recommend putting a dab of pwd. sulfur (or any other pwd. antibiotic) on the navel at least 2x a day for 3 - 5 days. Sulfur is uniquely good for this b/c it is drying, and will help the navel dry up and close, and will keep the bacteria from infecting. Good luck!! I hope your chick makes it!