- 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.
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.