Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[CluckNDoodle]

This is the crew at the moment. I had one chick that was cracked didn’t look pipped and it’s been a long time. I investigated the outer membrane was not broken just the shell cracked. I carefully pulled back some I can now see the chick it is peeping and struggling. The humidity dropped so I’m going to keep checking I chipped away quitea bit of shell with no sign of blood but then saw a bit of blood on the inner membrane. So I left it. I will keep checking but it’s peeping a lot. I’m attaching a picture. There was not any blood on the qtip I was using which makes me wonder if this is just the risidual blood like the blood stained on the other eggs that have hatched. Anyway he’s a picture. If someone could tell me what they think I would appreciate it.

Your peeps are so cute! The membrane does look translucent but it's harder to tell in a picture than it is in person, especially with a dark chick, we wouldn't be able to see the blood vessels as readily.

Was this internal pip present at all before you assisted?

 

[Phillyndilly]

Your peeps are so cute! The membrane does look translucent but it's harder to tell in a picture than it is in person, especially with a dark chick, we wouldn't be able to see the blood vessels as readily.

Was this internal pip present at all before you assisted?

It does look clear to me too I can’t see any blood vessels but that bit of blood did scare me. I have it in a wet paper towel in the incubator I’ve been checking. It is peeping very loud which I read is a sign they are ready. Well what I saw was a small crack it didn’t look like a pip at all for a long time. Which is why I thought it was odd when I eased back the shell from that crack the white outer membrane was fully intact and I could see the beak pushing on it and not making progress. So I sterilized a pin and poked a tiny hole where I knew the beak was. Then I eased away the membrane with my tweezers so I knew it could breath.
Does it peeping loudly generally mean distress? I just can’t see the belly of course so that makes me nervous that it hasn’t absorbed everything yet. What do you think of that little line of blood on the top left?

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

I have a dozen Dominiques in my Chinese incubator and 8 of a mixed variety from my Swedish Flower roo and Barred rock, RIR, and BO hens(first time hatching my own eggs). How soon should I see development in these eggs, they are about 4 days in now. I normally don't take them out once in the incubator....

Depending on shell colour you can see from day 3. But as a rule, don't rule out any eggs until day 10. The exception being if you see a blood ring or the egg smells

 

[julskinka]

The opal legbar hatched, although needed an assist. It was in kind of sideways and wasn't making any progress, and had clipped a blood vessel. It's a girl! She looks pooped because she lost some blood. I haven't been able to examine her fully yet, but I don't see any obvious malformations like the other one. I'm still concerned the rest of this hatch is going to be very hands-on, though.

 

[gmjarvi]

The opal legbar hatched, although needed an assist. It was in kind of sideways and wasn't making any progress, and had clipped a blood vessel. It's a girl! She looks pooped because she lost some blood. I haven't been able to examine her fully yet, but I don't see any obvious malformations like the other one. I'm still concerned the rest of this hatch is going to be very hands-on, though.

Hoping the rest goes off without a hitch!

 

[Phillyndilly]

Okay so thank you lord the egg yolk was fully absorbed it must’ve just not pipped right it one foot popped out too and then it wasn’t able to kick. It’s resting now but seems very weak I hope it makes it. It’s belly still has a bit of goo but that’s how a lot of the others were too but it does have more blood on the shell than the others so I hope it’s ok.

 

[Phillyndilly]

The opal legbar hatched, although needed an assist. It was in kind of sideways and wasn't making any progress, and had clipped a blood vessel. It's a girl! She looks pooped because she lost some blood. I haven't been able to examine her fully yet, but I don't see any obvious malformations like the other one. I'm still concerned the rest of this hatch is going to be very hands-on, though.

So yours lost a little blood as well? Is that generally ok? I didn’t have any obvious signs of bleeding except there’s a little extra on the shell. The belly has the little shriveled yellow goo like the others but it’s still attached to one of the membrane so I don’t want to mess with it.

 

[gmjarvi]

It does look clear to me too I can’t see any blood vessels but that bit of blood did scare me. I have it in a wet paper towel in the incubator I’ve been checking. It is peeping very loud which I read is a sign they are ready. Well what I saw was a small crack it didn’t look like a pip at all for a long time. Which is why I thought it was odd when I eased back the shell from that crack the white outer membrane was fully intact and I could see the beak pushing on it and not making progress. So I sterilized a pin and poked a tiny hole where I knew the beak was. Then I eased away the membrane with my tweezers so I knew it could breath.
Does it peeping loudly generally mean distress? I just can’t see the belly of course so that makes me nervous that it hasn’t absorbed everything yet. What do you think of that little line of blood on the top left?

Okay so thank you lord the egg yolk was fully absorbed it must’ve just not pipped right it one foot popped out too and then it wasn’t able to kick. It’s resting now but seems very weak I hope it makes it. It’s belly still has a bit of goo but that’s how a lot of the others were too

Did you get it out? Fingers crossed it makes it!

Every situation is different, it is so hard to tell exactly what is going on remotely. I think the general rule is to go very slowly with assists - they can take hours or even longer. If during an assist you are concerned you are moving too quickly, I would give the chick a chance to rest up, and that also gives it a chance to finish hatching on its own. You may not necessarily need to see the belly to know if it is still absorbing yolk - can you see its beak? If it is making chewing motions it is still absorbing.

I feel like a big part of assisting is experience - the more times you do it, the more you will be able to trust your gut and make the right choices. Not saying everyone should go out and assist every hatch, just that the more you /have/ to do it, the easier it will be in the future.

 

[gmjarvi]

So yours lost a little blood as well? Is that generally ok? I didn’t have any obvious signs of bleeding except there’s a little extra on the shell. The belly has the little shriveled yellow goo like the others but it’s still attached to one of the membrane so I don’t want to mess with it.

They can handle a little bit of blood loss, but it will make them extra tired. Shriveled yellow goo sounds like the yolk sac. If you do anything to try and get the membrane off, be very careful as you risk pulling out the insides of the chick out through its belly button which is where the yolk sac is.

 

[julskinka]

So yours lost a little blood as well? Is that generally ok? I didn’t have any obvious signs of bleeding except there’s a little extra on the shell. The belly has the little shriveled yellow goo like the others but it’s still attached to one of the membrane so I don’t want to mess with it.

Yes - I did a minor assist once the membrane was quite clear on top, and put it back in the incubator to rest; but because it was in an odd position, it ended up exiting the egg maybe a half hour earlier than it ought to have, and some vessels on the underside looked like they got ruptured or snagged by a toe before they'd finished draining. I've had something similar happen before, and it was fine. They're just a little sleepier at the outset. Nowhere near as bad as nicking a blood vessel in a botched assist.

She's perking up already!