"UPDATE" Help! Cracked egg on Day 18!!!

[mcjerdensfarm]

We were moving my 4 polish eggs to the hatcher and one slipped and fell!!! There is still movement inside the egg and I didn't see any fluid or blood coming out of the break. Is there any way to safely seal it up and save my chick?

HELP

 

[ljf24]

leave it alone and let it absorb the yolk and maybe it will be okay

 

[kelseygirl707]

Cover the crack with candle wax.

Here's, my first oops, lol, but it hatched!

 

[mcjerdensfarm]

I don't know if I could do candle wax--it is a pretty good break. I would be afraid the wax might actually enter the shell. But that is a lot of wax--lol--and it still hatched--that is great!

Right now I have the egg sitting in the incubator in a carton with the other 3. I am just worried that the membrane will dry out due to the break and "shrink wrap" my chick (that is if I didn't scramble the poor thing when I dropped it and it makes it till hatch time). Should I put anything around it--wet paper towel or a sponge??

I still can't believe I dropped it

 

[walkswithdog]

Welcome to egg droppers anonymous, most of us are in the club. At day 18 I'd probably use a small strip of duct tape and just let her roll. No bleeding is a hugely good sign. If you only run tape over the crack the chick can get out through the rest of the shell.

You know what else works if it's not weeping? A small square of ''press-n-seal" applied over the crack. I'm beginning to love the stuff for hatching.

I've made little "rescue bags" for chicks that need help and I don't want them to dry out and towels and paper towels seem to cool them off due to evaporation. Little sleeping bags of press n seal (sticky side out), and voila, warm, moist and safely contained until the chick can work it's way free. I just leave the beak or head out and it's been working pretty well. I figured it worked for keeping shocky people warm, should work for chicks.

 

[mcjerdensfarm]

The only thing I had was a hypoallergenic, non-latex band aid--so I cut little strips just to cover the break. I candled one more time the chick seems to be wiggling around pretty well in there. Now--what exactly is ''press-n-seal"

?? With a 3 year old who constantly checks on "his babies" in the incubator, I have a felling I might need to stock up on that stuff.

 

[walkswithdog]

Press-n-seal is a newer form of Saran Wrap - easier to use, seals things better, bunches of uses. I never imagined using it to save a chick until it occured to me when a chick wrapped in a towel in a normal incubator was cool to the touch and not doing well.

Evaporation cools. And that poor baby needed to stay warm. So in desperation I made a little sack out of the press n seal and slid egg/and baby in with his little beak out. And it made all the difference, he warmed up cried louder and several very LONG hours later, hatched himself out of egg and sack, fully recovered.

I've lost chicks under papertowels and towels and been wondering and finally decided that it didn't work the way I wanted it to. The plastic holds in moisture and prevents heat loss and it just seems to work better.

The only towel like thing I use now is a damp wool sock, and wool helps prevent heat loss even damp. Had one hatch last night inside a sock, it's kind of cute to find them with their heads poking out in the morning. He'd been kind of stuck in a pullet egg, so I'd given him a zip-assist and put him to "bed" in the damp sock.

First thing this morning there's a little head peeking out the end of the sock blinking at me. He's drying nicely with his two hatch mates.

 

[silkieluver_07]

Ugh, I just dropped my very first egg.

It doesn't help that its a wild eastern turkey egg either! Its due to hatch the 29th. Will any candle wax do to try and seal the crack?

 

[mcjerdensfarm]

Well, I guess I know what I'll be purchasing at Wal Mart today--wool socks and press and seal wrap

. Thanks so much for the tips. I wish I had some wool socks when our power went out for 9 hours the other week--I lost several silkies that were due to hatch. That may have helped out--but I had one little black one to make it and I hope to have 4 little friends for it in a day or two

.

 

[mcjerdensfarm]

Quote:
I believe it is best to use unscented candle wax--the scented type has fragrance oils that might damage the embryo. I saw a thread where they used plain white birthday candles. Good luck!