Well, lots of drama this hatch. Right now I have 6 hatched. One of the chicks zipped halfway & then got shrink-wrapped, and the two earliest-hatched chicks were pecking at it & drawing blood, so I was worried they would kill it.
So I ended up taking out the two oldest chicks & putting them in the brooder. Then I took the shrink-wrapped chick out & did an assisted hatch. I never did that before but after reading the information on here I decided to give it a try. I took it in the bathroom with the hot shower running, kept dripping water on the membranes with a cotton ball, & peeled the shell away from the membrane on about 3/4 of the egg. He kicked himself free after that but I didn't want to interfere too much so I left the bottom of the egg shell sticking to his butt & put him back in the incubator. I will try and get the rest of the shell off tomorrow when I put him in the brooder. I was really worried about opening the bator while eggs were pipping but I put some wet paper towels in & one hatched after that, so I guess it was ok.
Most of the chicks seem to have omphalitis, maybe that's why the zipper got stuck. Tomorrow I am going to put them all in the brooder & wash their butts & put some antibacterial ointment on. They all seem to be pretty active, except for "Egg-butt," so hopefully that's a good sign that they might pull through.
So I ended up taking out the two oldest chicks & putting them in the brooder. Then I took the shrink-wrapped chick out & did an assisted hatch. I never did that before but after reading the information on here I decided to give it a try. I took it in the bathroom with the hot shower running, kept dripping water on the membranes with a cotton ball, & peeled the shell away from the membrane on about 3/4 of the egg. He kicked himself free after that but I didn't want to interfere too much so I left the bottom of the egg shell sticking to his butt & put him back in the incubator. I will try and get the rest of the shell off tomorrow when I put him in the brooder. I was really worried about opening the bator while eggs were pipping but I put some wet paper towels in & one hatched after that, so I guess it was ok.
Most of the chicks seem to have omphalitis, maybe that's why the zipper got stuck. Tomorrow I am going to put them all in the brooder & wash their butts & put some antibacterial ointment on. They all seem to be pretty active, except for "Egg-butt," so hopefully that's a good sign that they might pull through.
Welcome
