diamondsilkies
Songster
I set a batch of 16 serama eggs in my incubator a little while ago. I candled at lockdown (day 17) and everything looked good. Day 19 came and went with a couple pips, but not much. One was hatched when I went to bed on day 20, and I woke up on day 21 with two more.
One of the eggs had pipped sometime on day 20, and had been making very slow progress. After 24 hours, one of the other chicks bumped into it, rolling it so that I had a clear view. From what I could see, the membrane had fallen down on the chick. It was rolling and chirping, but it was getting weaker. I used some tweezers and warm water to help finish the zip. The membrane was paper dry all over and barely still attached to the shell. Luckily, the chick made it and is in the brooder now. It's doing perfectly fine, but I don't think it would have made it without interference.
That brings us to day 22, today. The seventh chick was almost completely zipped when I woke up this morning, but the feathers that I could see were completely dry, and the membrane around looked very dry as well. It made no progress, and after about an hour I zipped a little more for it and wet the membrane, although I didn't have to do much for this one. It hatched, although the head and wing were stuck to the membrane for a couple minutes. It's in the brooder as well and looks to be doing fine.
Four eggs are left. None of them are pipped, and obviously the humidity went down sometime during the hatch. Normally, all my seramas would be hatched by the end of day 20 or very early on day 21. One of them has been rocking slightly, more this morning than now, and I think I saw one other move a little. I candled, but I can't see any movement, and I don't know what a shrink wrapped chick would look like during candling. There weren't any internal pips that I could see.
What should I do? Is there anything I can do to help these chicks? Normally I don't like to interfere, since I know it can weaken them, but I truly believe the chicks I helped would not have made it by themselves, and if there's any chance I can do the same for these chicks, I would like to. Obviously I will have to figure out what happened with the humidity (new incubator, although it's similar to my old one).
Any advice is definitely appreciated!
One of the eggs had pipped sometime on day 20, and had been making very slow progress. After 24 hours, one of the other chicks bumped into it, rolling it so that I had a clear view. From what I could see, the membrane had fallen down on the chick. It was rolling and chirping, but it was getting weaker. I used some tweezers and warm water to help finish the zip. The membrane was paper dry all over and barely still attached to the shell. Luckily, the chick made it and is in the brooder now. It's doing perfectly fine, but I don't think it would have made it without interference.
That brings us to day 22, today. The seventh chick was almost completely zipped when I woke up this morning, but the feathers that I could see were completely dry, and the membrane around looked very dry as well. It made no progress, and after about an hour I zipped a little more for it and wet the membrane, although I didn't have to do much for this one. It hatched, although the head and wing were stuck to the membrane for a couple minutes. It's in the brooder as well and looks to be doing fine.
Four eggs are left. None of them are pipped, and obviously the humidity went down sometime during the hatch. Normally, all my seramas would be hatched by the end of day 20 or very early on day 21. One of them has been rocking slightly, more this morning than now, and I think I saw one other move a little. I candled, but I can't see any movement, and I don't know what a shrink wrapped chick would look like during candling. There weren't any internal pips that I could see.
What should I do? Is there anything I can do to help these chicks? Normally I don't like to interfere, since I know it can weaken them, but I truly believe the chicks I helped would not have made it by themselves, and if there's any chance I can do the same for these chicks, I would like to. Obviously I will have to figure out what happened with the humidity (new incubator, although it's similar to my old one).
Any advice is definitely appreciated!
