Should I help one chick hatch?

[fowlweatherfriends]

Here's the thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9316

And I think it is probably time to help before it's too late.
Best wishes

 

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

I help one of my chicks ginger sorta. She had not done anything for awhile to i opened the bator and grabbed the egg then I hear chirp chirp so I put it back down and then she just started chippin away after that lol

. I think I had to wake her up she was probaly sleeping she is a little lazy one lol. She is happy and healthy today, she is 5 weeks old.



I hope you do well with your chick.

P.S. Don't help it if you know it still alive...sh if shes still cheapin shes fine probly just thinks she missin out on something lol. Mine piped in the after noon and than hatch at 5 and 7 AM . I was so surprised i didnt wake up to it earlyer because he was chippin all the till he hatched and never tryed to sleep he was up trying to walk after he hatched.

 

[fowlweatherfriends]

P.S. Don't help it if you know it still alive...

So, they should only help if it's dead?!


The signs for helping would be less cheeping, less movement, and/or using your gut instinct. Most intervention will be based on gut instinct along with some physical signs. If someone is questioning helping their hatch and it has been 18 to 24 hours, it's probably about time if there are other physical signs.

And I don't intend the above quote and following statement to be snippy-it just doesn't add up to only help if the chick is dead-then that wouldn't be helping...

Best wishes!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i am very much a newbie. i had one set of eggs two weeks ago where i ended up helping two out, using the method discussed on this board. One went fine, after gently breaking all around the egg, she pushed out right in my hand. The next one i helped i probably should have left her in the egg to finish herself. My gut told me to, and i should have listened. She did survive though, and is doing well.

This last hatch i helped on a number of them, mainly by doing a little bit of egg chipping after they pipped and leaving them to finish. Everyone is doing fine so far.

It really is a gut feeling decision. Hope all goes well. Please do let us know.

Colleen

 

[spudchild]

Ok...here's the update. Just talked to DH. He removed some of the shell, being careful not to damage the membrane. He then placed the egg on a warm wet washcloth which he has put in the incubator. He said he can see the chick moving a little under the membrane, and it has started cheeping a lot again. I think we may be making progress. I'm off work in 2 hours, so we are going to leave it be till then. Once I'm home we'll decide whether to remove a little more shell or not.

Thanks to everyone's help here!

 

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

I mean like you no its cheeping all the time when u dont hear it check uo on it and maybe help it.

 

[spudchild]

Here's the update...it's not so good. The chick is alive, but it looks premature. It's belly is swollen and its legs aren't strong enough for it to stand. Today was day 20 though, and another chick out of the same batch was just fine. I'm not sure what to do. Right now, it is on a warm damp cloth in the incubator. It had managed to break through the membrane around it's head, but due to the under-developed legs, couldn't get it all the way off. I had to remove the rest. I'm going to take the cloth out in a couple of minutes so it can start to dry, but I don't think this baby can go in the brooder yet. I was thinking of trying to make some egg yolk mash to see if it would eat. I'm just not sure if the baby is going to make it.

 

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

Its just hatched give it a break it will get to trying to walk when it wants to. Mine was like that to in the begging she is smaller than she is suppose to be because he eggs was small and when she came out she slept in the incubator for a day. The next day she hoboling around the bator trying to walk. She gain a feet deformedy because tryed to walk the wrong way. She has curled toes but she still walks like any other chiken, but is a litte slow on the running part

.

Have faith in the little feller.

 

[spudchild]

I've had plenty of successful hatches before, but this one is nowhere near as strong as any of my others have been. Right now I'm not too optimistic. I was able to give it a drop of water to drink off my finger, and have made it comfortable---it's on a flat cushion still in the incubator....now I'm just waiting to see. If anyone else has any ideas, let me know.

 

[jimnjay]

Spud, Sorry, I thought I had included the link, I looked it up but I don't know what happened. Don't stress to much about your chick. Some are just not strong enough to make it and that is why some people advocate not helping them. It may perk up too. I would not worry about food or water for that matter quite yet. It will need lots of rest. If you can add a little sugar to the water if you don't have Vitamine & Electrolytes to add. You might boil some eggs to have handy for when it wants food. I find boiled eggs are very tempting and they eat well with them. Many old timers used boiled egg before sack feeds were so readily available. I hope your little one perks up, it is very hard to decide what to do when you get a slow one. Just know you did all you could and go forward. As for the legs not working well, that sometimes takes a good 24 hours with the best of hatches. I had one hatch in my little homemade hatcher two days ago. Its feet were pretty curled. By morning they still did not look right and it was not moving much at all. I slipped this one under the hen who brooded it ( it was a late one in a staggered hatch) by the afternoon I could not tell which one had curled toes. You just never know. Good Luck