Questions about a late hatch (Opened a dead egg to find it isn't)

[ThatParrotLady]

This egg is supposed to be around 26 days but it may be 24-25. I opened the top and put water on it to peer through the membrane presuming it was expired since it had been forever since it moved. Turns out the chick is alive and responding now but they have not made a single cheep inside their egg, they are tapping however and have been tapping for two days to get out. I'm concerned about intervening when the upper part of their shell is open in the incubator to give me a window in, but should I leave her like that? She responds to chick videos and I think she's in the right position to finish pipping the inner membrane with her head though I don't know why she hasn't (I did not break that main membrane around her that) if I gave a picture would someone know? The veins on her appeared to be receding (that's why I thought she was dead) when I candled her and some of the membrane is pulling free of the inner shell on it's own, I just want to know should I remove the remainder of the shell and leave her in the incubator to do the rest? I wouldn't be so invested but this chick belongs to a hen that just died the other day and I don't want to lose the baby too since the rest of her clutch is gone.

 

[Pyxis]

What happened to the rest of the eggs? What has your temperature been, and is the incubator still air or forced?

Can you post a picture of the opened egg? Do you see active veins in the membrane? You might try moistening it with coconut oil instead of water, to get a better view.

 

[Banditschickens]

 

[ThatParrotLady]

The veins are active but my sister just got in and says that the chick is younger which stresses me out a bit because that means i removed the wrong egg somewhere in the first week. She says day 18, but she shouldn't be 18 she was laid on the 23rd of Febuary I'm positive about this, would the hen abandoning the brood in colder weather cause this? I'm sorry I'm probably wasting your time right now she thinks it will die now and I'm just frustrated, I took her and 3 others from her mother because I thought she was doing a crap job abandoning them in this weather and put them in an incubator and waited.

 

[Pyxis]

That's okay, it might not die as long as this is handled properly. The membrane will have to be kept moist now. Do you have coconut oil or bacitracin or something similar you can cover the exposed membrane in? A picture would also be great, if you can get one.

The day the hen laid the egg doesn't matter, only when it was put in the incubator. Did the hen start sitting on them on the 23rd? Are there other hens in the coop that could have laid more eggs in her nest after she had already started sitting?

 

[ThatParrotLady]

Yeah a Frizzle and herself a silkie, I am dripping water on her when I see it drying out through the vent using a sterile Q tip.

https://media.discordapp.net/attach...5771619098662/image0.jpg?width=376&height=502

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/347250355651870720/557375713192443906/image0.jpg

I feel like a monster.

 

[Pyxis]

Water isn't the best; it will dry out quickly. Something else like I mentioned will work better and you can leave the egg alone in the incubator longer between applications.

 

[ThatParrotLady]

Thank you, will vasaline do?

 

[Pyxis]

Vaseline should be okay

 

[ThatParrotLady]

Thank you, I think this is my first and last hatch adventure, I can't take this kind of stress.