premature goose chick - asking for advice

nabby

Hatching
11 Years
Oct 2, 2008
7
0
7
Hello there,

I am having some trouble. I had two goose eggs which my little bantam was sitting on. One of the eggs hatched on the morning of day 29 and the other was making lots of noises. 'Mum' was not settled on the nest and on inspection the unhatched egg had no pipping marks. Later on in the day 'mum' left the nest completely and abandoned the egg. The chick was much quieter and did not seem to be pipping. I did not have an incubator or another clucky chicken.

I decided to assist hatching.

I have helped the chick out of the egg. The yolk was not absorped and so I left the chick over night in most of it's shell with moist dressings in plastic wrap covered by a damp cloth in a light box. Today I had to use an irrigation of cornflour and a tea bag over the umbilicus to stop the bleeding and remove the chick from it's shell. I decided this was best as the risk of contamination and infection was too high in the soiled shell and the yolk sac and vessels seemed to seperate from the shell with very little effort. I irrigated with sterile saline and tried to be aseptic as much as possible. Despite the vessels still being bright red the bleeding was very minimal and the poor wee little thing seemed to recover ok. I placed him in a small-medium cardboard box with a frosted 100w globe.

After reading several different posts I decided to encourage closure of the abdomen with a pressure dressing. I have taped his belly up with porous tape (leukopor) and placed some cotton buds over the site with a dressing taped over his abdomen. His vent is clear and I found evidence of a little poop. He is lying on his back with his feet up and seems comfortable and happy to sleep. He kicks his feet around and moves his head when I disturb him. I have been giving him very small amounts of water by dropping beads onto the side of his beak, which he swallows. I have put artificial tears (lacri-lube eye ointment) over his eyes regularly as he only opens them infrequently and there is a membrane covering them. I am worried about them drying out.

I have seen on other posts that the advice is to put the chick back in the incubator. Given my situation, I am not sure if my humidity level will be right and I am wondering if I need to spray little one with water or just let him dry out (he is currently drying out). I am keeping two teabags moist in his box to try and make some humidity. If anybody has any information for me then that would be very much appreciated.

Now along with spending $120 at the vets for another sick chicken last Sunday, this experience has made me realise I must never take any animals lightly!

Many thanks,

Siobhan.
 
Welcome to BYC.

You should get it off of its back. The lungs are in the back bone region and it can develop a pnuemonia.

All you can do is what you are doing.

It is never a good idea to hatch an egg like that.

There is a lot you can do with a heating a pad or a light bulb to continue an incubation.

Good luck.
 
Thank you for your speedy reply and for your welcome. This forum is great.

I got him off his back and he seems to have perked up.

Do you think he will need to be given water throughout the night? Should I put a damp flannel in there to raise/keep the humidity?

How long can a chick last once it has broken into the air cell? I truly thought this little chap was not going to make it because he had gone from very noisy to almost no sounds. I thought that was probably why the 'mum' left him. This has been a big learning process!

I agree about it being a bad idea - I do not recommend this to anyone!! However.. if my little chick lives then it will all be worth it.
 
Geese can go 24 - 48 hours after a pip. They are the most difficult eggs I have ever hatched.

I would keep the temps and humidity up. How much yolk sac is not asorbed?
 
Gosh. Ok.

Initially there was a sac about twice the size of the goslings head. Today that had reduced by half, so a sac about the size of the goslings head. It was very bad.
 
Fingers crossed for you that the little gosling pulls through. The next 48 hours will be critical. Keep it warm and don't handle it too much as bacteria transfers from your hands and it has a open natal wound site.
 
Fingers are definately crossed! As are my toes and my legs!

Thank you for your help. I will let you know how the little fellow goes.
 
Cheering on your little guy!!
yippiechickie.gif
Come on, you can make it, fight, fight, fight!
fl.gif
 
This morning I went to check on the little gosling and he was dead. It could have been so many different things that killed him but I can't help but feel that it was his prematurity and my actions.

When I look back at the beginning of our troubles I think the chick had probably stopped activity when I found him in his egg abandoned because he was too cold. I wish I had put the egg in a light box and misted with warm water to bring up the humidity. Who knows if it would have helped?

I feel so sad.

I have another sick chicken who I will write about on a different post topic. I hope someone can help with some advice.

Kind Regards,

Siobhan.
 

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