"Shrink wrap" vs. "Sticky chick"?

[ChestnutRidge]

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I have no adult chickens, but I am hoping some of these chicks will grow into broodies! Maybe next spring's hatches can be much less stressful! Good luck with your broodies!

 

[emjay]

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I have no adult chickens, but I am hoping some of these chicks will grow into broodies! Maybe next spring's hatches can be much less stressful! Good luck with your broodies!

if you were close, you could have one of mine !!! I had 6 of them in a period of 4 weeks.

 

[missy5]

Ok, so i read all of this and right now i think my problem is sticky chick. I just started a new post but no one answered yet and i found this one. I need help. Everything was going fine. Then the bill came out and now he seems to be breathing realy heavy. He looks like hes too wet. He is wrapped tight and only his bill is out and he opens his bill wide. I'm sure he's having trouble breathing. What can i do to help him? He's not shrink wrapped because you can see he's all wet but looks like he's wraped in wet wrap. If that makes any sence. Please someone tell me what to do for him. Thanks.

 

[Barrdwing]

How long has he been like that? Because when a chick pips, he spends some time just lying there, breathing room air and resting. He has to have time to absorb his yolk sac and to shut down his attachments to the blood vessels running on the inside of the shell. I have had chicks under a hen pip and then lie there for twelve hours doing nothing at all that I could see. I left them be, and they hatched.

It's really hard to know when to interfere. I know some Forum members have a "time limit" on how long they'll leave a pipped egg, but I don't have much experience with incubators. The last time I hatched eggs with an incubator, I think the maximum "doing nothing" period that an egg showed was fourteen hours or so, so if an egg was getting past eighteen hours, I'd be really nervous. I know that if we interfere too soon, though, the chick will die.

I would think that the most important things to do are to make sure that temperature and humidity stay where they need to be, and really keep an eye on things. If the exposed membranes start looking really dry, that could just be the outer membrane, or it could be a sign that the chick is going sticky on you. If the chick is crying and seems like it can't move, then that might be the sign that it needs help, but it's so hard to tell when you only have a tiny window to work with.

I wish I could be more helpful.

 

[missy5]

Thank you for your reply, she made it through the night. I set my alarm for every hour to check on her. Here's a pic of mom, dad and baby calls.

I hope the next egg makes it. There was only two out of four that made it this far. Don't want her to be alone. Thanks again.

 

[Barrdwing]

She's out? Super!

Keeping my fingers crossed for the next egg!

 

[missy5]

Yes she's out and wobbling around. Doing much better today, chirpping away. She has a little problem with her bill. The top of her bill seams to have a crocked side. Sorry i'm trying to figure out how to explain it. I'm trying to get a pic of it. From the time her little bill came out of the egg it looked funny. I will try to get a pic and post it.

 

[shereliza]

Laree,

I am relatively new to chickens. Got my first 10 over a year ago. Have 10 four week old pullets now. Had a hen go super broody a month ago so I got some fertilized eggs from a friend and let her set on them. Yesterday 6 of the 7 hatched. Four of them seemed normal...all fluffy and active and 2 "sticky" looking. Checked on them and one of the seemingly healthy ones was dead under her mama. Anyhow...my concern is for the sticky ones. You mentioned bathing them for a few days. Did you use any kind of soap or just warm water? What are their chances of surviving? I am already preparing myself that they will most likely die. Any information would be great.

Thanks,
Sherri

 

[emjay]

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Update on my sticky babies. I hatched out 8 of them, lots of work, but, I basically washed them and dried them all in one sitting. then the next day I did touch ups. They are now 10 days old, and all 8 are doing well. They are a bit smaller then the others. You can see the odd spot where I missed the sticky, the fluff never fluffed.

And of the 3 I booted for crooked toes, they are almost perfect, the boots did their thing.
So, all is not lost with sticky chicks. Just a little more work required to get them up to par.

 

[ChestnutRidge]

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I am not as experienced as Laree, but I had one very sticky chick who is now three weeks old. My husband and I both helped. The chick was in his left hand in a washcloth over the sink. I doused its body with handfuls of warm water from the filled sink, and we both used Q-tips to wipe off the softening gunk. We did this several times on the first day, allowed him to dry off in the incubator, and then he was able to remove what gunk was left by preening. Since you probably don't have an incubator for warming and fluffing, you could use a hair dryer. I'd probably be careful and use a low setting and try to protect the head from too much direct air.

Good luck!