Howdy, here's the situation; I have a hen that has been laying on several eggs now for 22 days and yesterday hatched a chick but kicked it out of the nest, so I brought it in and have it happily chirping and running around. early this morning I went out to see the hen chucked out another chick from the nest and it succumbed to its injuries. I had only one egg left and can hear it trying to pip out, the "mother" was rolling it around and pecking at it so I brought it in to the "ICU" and it has been trying to pip for over two hours. I have a feeling the shell may be just too thick for it to pip on its own and am curious, would it do more harm than good if I was to gently score the outside to weaken the shell or wait a few more hours then go into "rescue" mode. I have been keeping an eye on the situation and don't want to overreact but not do anything if it needs assistance. These eggs are normally very hard to crack as is when you want to eat them. The other two eggs look as though they either piped or she assisted them for they were cracked in half. I am wondering what to do for I am not sure the air supply the chick has inside will last much longer.
The chick may have lost it's egg tooth. Check the link in my signature file for a guide to assisted hatching. Good luck!
Thank you, I did as instructed and it started chirping very faintly as the shell got broke for it but I think there was no oxygen for the longest time and it was very weak. It is very faintly breathing right now. I am not sure if it will survive but at least it has a fighting chance! the shell was like I figured, extraordinarily thick to the point where I thought I was picking a duck egg!!!
Hope it works out but if that was me I would definitely help it. I typically shine a flash light into the egg to find the air sac and crack that end and start slowly peeling back the shell, letting the chick help you if possible. Have a wet paper towel to keep things moist, and everything should be clean and disinfected if possible. Go easy and if you see any blood stop right away. Most importantly keep that little thing warm! good luck!
