Should I help this chick hatch?

[schatze]

Two of my hens have been sitting on 22 eggs--all my hens decided to lay in one spot, for once, which was under these two. Day before yesterday, 3 of the eggs hatched. Yesterday morning, one more chick hatched, however, by that afternoon the top of its head had been eaten.

This morning, another chick hatched, and I saw one of the hens feed part of the still alive chick's brain to the older chicks. I removed that chick and two tweeting eggs. The eggs no longer had shells, only very dry membranes that had been perforated.

One of those chicks died while inside, but the other is now in the incubator trying to finish hatching. Only its head and part of the wing are free. It's really struggling to get out of the dried up membrane.

What should I do? Can I moisten the membrane to make it soft again?

 

[schatze]

I moistened the membrane by dipping NY finger in some water and then touching it onto the membrane. Hopefully that will help.

 

[schatze]

Ok, that did it. It's now hatched! Poor little thing had looked so cramped and uncomfortable.