Rescued hatching chick from hen that ate the shell... now what?

[joesgirljeri]

Oh my word!

Checked the coop today to find two dead chicks. Watched throughout the day (it was hot so mama was off the eggs part of the day.) Actually saw one pip as I looked at them! I went up to the house and got my phone to take a picture, went right back. In that time, the hen came over and ate the shell from the egg!

The chick was breathing so I scooped up the chick and the rest of the eggs right away. I have them a crock-pot bowl with the lid on, on a damp towel. There was blood on the other eggs but the chick does not seem to be bleeding. The chick seems stronger now than before, it still has a cord attached to its belly but I kept it all intact.

It's been about an hour and a half. The chick is moving and peeping. Another egg has pipped. I have a digital thermometer inside the bowl that says 99 degrees.

Should I do anything different?

 

[BjaJra826]

I am unsure if there is anything else you can do. If the chick seems to be cold, use a blowdryer on low to help it fluff up. Maybe try to keep the humidity up? Good luck!

 

[joesgirljeri]

Chick was really sticky so I ran some warm water over her and she looks less like she got into the hair gel. Still breathing strong and peeping, but laying down.

 

[joesgirljeri]

The rescued chick has fluffed up and is moving around. Another hatched this morning and is doing well. Mom is still sitting on the golf balls I put in the nest when I took all her eggs away.

3 eggs still unhatched.

Do I try to sneak a chick in under her tonight or tomorrow night and see if she accepts it? I really don't want her to harm another BUT if she would be their mom I would very much like to have her take care of them.

 

[MountainGaurdian]

We dealt with an early hatch of a chick that the egg had been abandoned, we helped it out of the shell carefully as it had been abandoned long enough to get pretty cold. This chick also had the egg yolk sack hanging from it's belly. My wife is on bed rest so she kept the baby with her literally cupped in her hand on her chest for the first 36 hours of it's existence.

It is now about 8 inches tall and healthy as can be, it's mother wouldn't accept it back in after it was strong enough to return but there was another mother that had her babies taken by the first and we brought her in and gave her the new weak baby and she took it right in. In fact she now has six babies, some were born in the house as eggs that had been abandoned when chicks were born and two others from outside that were born from a third hen who kept setting her unhatched eggs.

It takes a fair while for that sack to be fully integrated into the chick and it takes some time for them to get a lot of energy when born early like that, just keep the baby warm and humid enough. We did a little bit of feeding and a very small amount of watering of ours, but it didn't amount to much really.