Please Read and HELP!!

[familyfarm1]

Our 14mo old BR hen Oreo went broody on a few eggs. Just recently she develop wry neck. Today is day 19 so we were letting her stay on the nest while treating her and then after the eggs hatched we were going to raise the chicks ourselves and keep treating oreo. Now to make matters worse I just checked underneath her and 1 of the eggs shell is coming off. Oreo did not eat the shell, it was on the ground next to the egg, but the chick didn't pip it because the membrane is completely intact. What do we do?

 

[familyfarm1]

the egg looks like it is starting to shrink wrap.

should I help it hatch? it is 2 days pre-mature.

 

[sumi]

If I remember correctly you don't have an incubator? Or can you get one? You will need to keep the egg warm (close as possible to 99*F) and in a humid environment (± 65% or higher). If you put it back under the hen you risk her squashing the chick, because the shell is weak now. It's pretty badly cracked so you will probably need to help the chick hatch too. Hmm, you say it's day 19, so the chick needs another 2 days before it's due. See if you can make a plan with an incubator and put it in there.

 

[familyfarm1]

we borrowed a hova bator 1602n incubator from a friend and we are trying to get it to work. keep your fingers crossed.

how dangerous would it be if the egg hatched this early?

 

[sumi]

The chick needs to absorb the yolk sac before it can hatch and that usually happens after it pipped externally during the hatching process. There is also a lot of active blood vessels in the membrane around the chick, which, when ruptured, can cause the chick to bleed to death. It needs to stay in there until it's ready to come out, which will be around day 21-22. If you take it out of the egg now it will not make it.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the incubator and the hatch and for your poor hen. Shame, I hope she recovers quick.

 

[familyfarm1]

The 1st incubator did not work, it was missing the piece that adjusts the temp. We are running over and getting another bator from a neighbor. It should be here and setup in about 10-15min. What should we do with the egg until then? as of right now Oreo's sleeping and we slipped it under her to keep it warm. we are right next to her so we can get the egg if needed.

 

[sumi]

Just keep it warm. Don't remove any more off the shell until the chick's ready to hatch.

 

[familyfarm1]

Ok, thank you so much!

 

[familyfarm1]

So he/she is in the incubator but before we got him into it the membrane broke. We realize that it's ten to one that he won't live long but we're doing our best to give the little guy a fighting chance. We're actually surprised that he is still alive and thought he was dead until a couple minutes ago when we saw him move and then move again. He has moved a bit and you can occasionally see him breathing. Two quick questions: 1) the temp/humid. are off the temp is at 100F and the humid is at 85%. How can we bring the humid down to between 65%-80% but keep the temp about the same? Should he have more humid. b/c he is not completely encased in his egg? Thanks all and please pray for a miracle!

 

[waw]

Hope it hatches