Please someone be awake....HELP!!!

[Notquitesure]

Ok, so my 1st batch of eggs was a great success.... 17 out of 20, so far. Here's the problem, I had one that is in obvious distress from the last 3 eggs. I researched and read and retread and researched more on how to assist in the hatch. All was going fine until I got to the last piece of eggshell and when I pulled on it, yolk started leaking out. I immediately stopped, put it back in its warm compress and back into the incubator. What now?

 

[Fierlin1182]

Hi,
I'm sorry to hear that this chick is having problems. The forums usually aren't very active at this time, so although I know nothing about hatching I want to help in any way I can... I've just done a search for threads with similar topics and found a story about how someone saved a chick that broke its yolk sack while hatching:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ell-detatched-shipped-eggs/3100#post_10187078
You can try to help your chick as well. Good luck to you, and I hope the rest of your hatch goes well.

Oh, and also,

 

[Spangled]

I have no idea what you should do.

I have hatched many chicks ... or what seems like many to me. I usually just let them get out themselves so that I don't breed the "inability to get out of the shell" into subsequent generations of my flock. Plus, I usually try to trust that the chick knows better than I do the best timing and how to get itself out of the shell. However, I have helped chicks out of their shells ... usually on shipped eggs because it's so difficult to get them to hatch anyway and replacements will cost too much and waiting until next spring seems like too long to wait. And helping is a last ditch effort.

Of all the instructions I've ever read and what I know about how the yolk is supposed to be absorbed into the body of the chick before the hatch, I am scared for your little chick.

I do not know the best thing to do, but I would take off the warm compress (although I'm not sure what that is) and keep the egg in the incubator and hope the yolk heals itself over and that everything is fine in time.

I hope someone else has some really good news for you. Or that good thoughts will make it all better. And I would focus on the 17 and remind myself that not all eggs hatch, even under the best of circumstances or under their moms either.

Wow! 17 out of 20 is excellent for a first time. Yay! Congratulations on all your little fuzzy bottoms. Great, great job! What kind of incubator? What do you think was your trick? Do you think it's healthy hens laying great eggs? The way you stored the eggs before the hatch? The incubator? Some trick during incubation? Your humidity level during the hatch? 85% hatch rate is super great for first time ... and nothing to sneeze at for old timers either!

PS. I'm not telling you what to do. But I would have already taken the hatched chicks out of the incubator and gotten them off to a start in a brooder so that they don't jostle that egg at all. I also would cheep like a mother hen to the egg for a minute or two each hour (except when I was sleeping for the night) so it doesn't feel forgotten. But again, that's just me and I'm not saying that anyone should do that. I have just seen it seem to work time and again as chicks are hatching ... that they respond to mother hen talk. I used to have a kid living at home during some hatches that would do that for me. Eventually I agreed that it did actually seem to facilitate things sometimes.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Oh that's great that you got a response from someone experienced, I was getting a little worried too!

And yes, it's great that you've managed to hatch so many successfully, you've done a brilliant job already. Good luck again.

 

[Notquitesure]

Wow...thanks to you both for your quick response. And thanks for the welcome! I just checked on the baby and he's still alive and kicking In my rush earlier I failed to give a better assessment of the situation. The others are out of the incubator and thriving. I put him back in the incubator inside a moist towel so the membrane doesn't dry out. I continue to tap and peep, but am terrified to open the door to the incubator. He does open his eyes when I do tap, good sign I guess.

Spangled, in answer to your question, beginners luck? My husband is OCD, or in his case, CDO. So everything is done in excess. We've gotten books, manuals, temp and humidity gages, GQF sportsman incubator and hatcher. The temp and humidity in the incubator is set as 100 and humidity at 58%. The hatcher is at 99.7 and 70%. I know that not every egg will be viable but I felt the NEED to intervene. Doing nothing was worse than helping? He pipped last night around 11pm and I didn't start assisting until about 10:45 tonight when I noticed the membrane beginning to dry out and he stopped "trying". Believe you me, never again, Mother Nature is the expert and I've been a nervous wreck all night.

I'll post in the morning and give an update.

Again, thanks so much to you both!!

 

[gander007]

Alright

great to have you joining the BYC flock

Alright congratulations on your hatch

You need to do some reading on hatching and the learning center is a good place to start

You need to slow down on helping the chicks out of the shell but is you are going to do that first of all this is a very trying time for them first of all so just crack the cee enough to let them get some air and you will need a water spray bottle near by for the drying egg stuff

gander007

 

[TwoCrows]

It is never advised to assist in a hatch unless the chick is more than half the way out. Hatching is natures way of testing the little ones. If they can pass the test of hatch, they can survive. It they can't pass this test, then they are not fit to live. Unfortunate, but true. Between the time the chick pips and starts to zip, the chick is busy absorbing the last of the yolk, it is detaching itself from the egg shell..all the veins, and tissue. So when you start to assist them, you do not know what stage this little one is in. So it is really best to just let nature take its' course and hopefully the little one can get out of the egg in a healthy manner.

Good luck with this little baby. If he does make it ok to transfer to the brooder, keep this one under heat about 100 degrees. These types of babies need more heat for several days to survive. You may also need to add vitamins to his water and feed him chopped up hard boiled eggs. Very good emergency food for babies that really charges them up when they are weak.

Oh and welcome to BYC!

 

[Notquitesure]

Good morning my new friends and teachers!!! I am pleased to announce that the little one survived thus far and is in the brooder under heat lamps, alone. i appreciate everyones advice and can assure all that i will not assist again! I've just got to remember that I am not in control and it's survival of the fittest. Besides that i was racked with anxiety all night over him/her. i was so concerned and my mothering took over :/

most if not all of the information for assisting i got from this site and i am so thankful that there are so many knowledgeable people on here. i will certainly get the boiled egg going when i get back from the store, i don't have any because they are all in the incubator also giving him and the other chicks some grogel plus B.

again i cannot say how appreciative i am to you all

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Congratulations on the successful hatch, am glad the little trouble maker made it.

 

[Spangled]

I am pleased to announce that the little one survived thus far and is in the brooder under heat lamps, alone.

Ah, all's well that end's well. I am so happy for the good news. Congrats to your OCD (CDO, alpha order! lol) husband also. Now that you both know how great you are at hatching, it will seem like a walk in the park next time.

I am all for almost never helping (as you read in my previous post), but I did help two of my chickens out. They were both from separate shipments of eggs from breeders. These are the only ones I've ever helped (that I remember). One is a dark egg layer, 5 years old in a month or two, and I just collected one of her beautiful eggs this morning. The other is a 3 year old cock who's still hanging in there, mellow as can be. His air sac was all goofed up; I am amazed he even hatched. But he's been a great cock in every way.

If I don't intend to breed with the ones I've helped out, then I have a tendency to think it's fine to help them out. If I do breed with them, then it's best to never help any of their progeny hatch or it's likely that I'd be passing a weakness along to future generations. But that's just how I'm comfortable dealing with this hatching issue. I certainly don't want to breed hatchability issues into my flock.


So .... you didn't say ... did you end up helping the little one out?