Unexpected hatching - help!

[Kiki]

They are all hatched and well! They're sitting in the incubator because I read that you're supposed to leave them in for 24 hours.

Sadly, they rummaged around a bit too much (which is why I'm thinking about taking them out of the bator a bit earlier). One of my starling eggs now has two tiny cracks. One of them is feelable and directly on top of the air cell. The other one smaller and in the middle of the egg. The embryo is still moving and well, and there's no fluid leaking out, but I have absolutely no knowledge of this matter. Maybe one of you can help? What would you recommend me to do now?

Once the chick hatches the incubators job is done. There is no reason you need to leave it in there for 24 hours.
The sooner it starts eating and drinking on its own the better.

 

[aart]

Once the chick hatches the incubators job is done. There is no reason you need to leave it in there for 24 hours.
The sooner it starts eating and drinking on its own the better.

Good to let them rest a bit, and dry off, before removing tho.

 

[WVduckchick]

Personally, my gage for removing them from the incubator is their activity. If they are walking around on their own and making noise, etc, I take them out.
If it was a hard hatch, and they are struggling to get up and about, I leave them a little longer.
@Theblackpukeko congrats on a wonderful hatch!!

 

[Redhead Rae]

Personally, my gage for removing them from the incubator is their activity. If they are walking around on their own and making noise, etc, I take them out.
If it was a hard hatch, and they are struggling to get up and about, I leave them a little longer.
@Theblackpukeko congrats on a wonderful hatch!!

This is what I do too. They are usually dried out by the time they are active enough to be bopping the other eggs about.

 

[Theblackpukeko]

Yeah, I took them out earlier than that as well because they started rummaging around (resulting in the cracked egg). I saw instructions to fix the crack with wax. Any opinions?

And look who hatched today!

My very first black chick ♡

 

[Theblackpukeko]

Girl, you may have the beginning of an incubating addiction!

I sure do! I'm completely in love!

 

[aart]

I sure do!

It's fascinating.....just remember every egg hatched needs to be housed.

 

[Kiki]

Yeah, I took them out earlier than that as well because they started rummaging around (resulting in the cracked egg). I saw instructions to fix the crack with wax. Any opinions?

And look who hatched today!
View attachment 1940910
My very first black chick ♡

What are these little blue things?

 

[Theblackpukeko]

What are these little blue things?

They are the starling eggs

It's fascinating.....just remember every egg hatched needs to be housed.

Yes I know, I'm not having any more chickens until these ones are old enough to go to their new home! So at least a few months break...

 

[Theblackpukeko]

Oh dear.
How do I even start...

I'll just pop in this picture, so you know what I need help with. How can I fix this issue?
The long story follows below.

This morning, the last of six hatched. All perfectly healthy and fine, beautiful babies!
Then, I got a text from my colleague, saying that a hen at the farm abandoned half of her chicks, and wasn't coming back. I rushed down, but I had only seen the text an hour later. It looked very bad. One of the chick's had jumped out of the nest and was lying on the ground in the middle of a hailstorm. The other two were inside the nest, along with two more eggs. They had all gone stiff (their necks bent backwards) and ice cold, but they responded to my touch and were still breathing. One of the eggs was zipped, but also ice cold and motionless except for very faint breathing (the other had a dead chick). I took them home and popped them under the heatlamp, and after just a few minutes, they moved a bit more. Two of them got very vocal, and they were eager to drink something even though they couldn't stand yet. I got the zipped chick out of the egg, but the little guy had been struggling for so long that he had gone stiff. He'd probably been in there for days. His neck was bent down. His feet are curled up. His butt was matted with poop. It took a very long time to even get movement into his head.

But he made it and after a few hours, his head has now come up and is moving normally. I cleaned his butt and he immediately pooped. He even had enough strength to pop onto his legs in my hand. But because of his feet, he can't walk on his own. I'm trying to fix it with some tape. I'd really love any advice on how to fix this tho.
The other three have gone back to full alive mode. One of them has one stiff leg. One is always sitting alone, away from the others. But they are lovely.

We had planned to have 2-3 chicks, and now I've got TEN. And there's still the pukeko on top. I am so happy, and I can't even describe the feeling of seeing the half-dead chicks now happily walking around. I love caring for them. I'd love some info on the curled feet. Updates will follow.