Update: Helped a stuck chick -Day 22, Peeping, no Pips

[mediazeal]

I have 9 eggs out of 21 still in the incubator. I have taken the hatched chicks out but brought the humidity back up high within a minute or 2 max.

I hear at least one egg peeping alot most of today, but no pip as yet.
I'm not breeding, and I'm not opposed to having a chicken that would not have made it out without helping
But I do not want to interfer and help too soon either.

So, oh wise ones, assume I am willing and able to help.
Day 22 is getting old
Chick has been peeping for a few hours with no pip
Humidity is being kept up around 65% now.
Eggs lying on their sides (were in egg cartons til day 18)
The 12 that hatched already rolled the eggs still in there around alot.
It's a Black Copper Maran egg that has been peeping all day.

Do I keep waiting?
How long can he survive if the membrane is dried and he can't move to pip and zip? (that is my concern)

Thanks for your thoughts (sitting on hands)

 

[Paganbird]

I was just wondering why you took them out of the carton.
I hatch my eggs in cartons. Less mess, the hatched chicks can't roll the eggs around, and it's easier to keep track of which eggs are which.
If you hear peeping, I wouldn't mess with them. Give them more time.

 

[mediazeal]

Quote:
The Brinsea incubator is really low ceiling
so twice before when I have hatched in it, they had some trouble launching themselves straight up
I asked if anyone had taken them from carton to lying down at this stage and many said they had with good results, so I tried it this time. (plus, I had pretty bulky egg cartons with spike/towers between the eggs, not leaving much room)

thanks for your reply!!

 

[Paganbird]

Oh. That's a good reason, then.

I'm at the end of day 21. I only had one pip today... at about 6pm. So, I'm going into day 22 with no chicks hatched yet. I'm just going to wait it out. My pipper has not progressed, but I expect it will take forever... the first one always seems to, to me.
I have a cabinet incubator & a cabinet hatcher, so I know my temp & humidity have been stable. I used to use an LG & my hatches were early, around day 19. This waiting is a bit nerve-wracking, but I'd rather wait than "help."
I've helped chicks out before. Some make it, some don't. I mostly feel that I've made things worse overall through interference, whether by opening the 'bator or assisting the hatch. I'm an RN. I've worked surgical & in the OB/OR. I'm not squeamish & I can stay calm. It is still difficult for me to "interfere" during a hatch.
Afterwards I wonder if things would have been different if I hadn't helped and how things might have ended. In the end, I guess I don't like to take the responsibility of losing one... or saving one that "wasn't supposed to be saved" when I could have let nature take it's course.
The worst thing for me is when I help one out & have to cull it a couple hours later.

 

[mediazeal]

Well, after listening to the distress peeps for hours, I couldnt' take it anymore.
It was an Ameraucana egg. It had pipped and started to zip on the underside of the egg so I couldn't see what was going on.

She got completely shrink-wrapped. She had her little beak under her wing and sticking out of the shell and membrane, but the rest of her was getting stuck tighter and tighter.

It was really easy to peel off the shell and work the zip all the way around but her head was stuck under her wing with goo all over her and drying out every minute

Qtips of warm water, wet warm paper towels, tweezers and putting her back in the bater when she seemed to be more cold than freaked about being stuck.

She's in the incubator now, out of the egg and goo off the places she needs to straighten or bend.
Shes lying on her side and peeping, not quite ready to stand or completey straighten out.
She needs to warm up and dry out some (I pretty much had to soak her with Qtips and warm water) before I know if she will be ok.
Hold a good thought. All the parts are there and she has a good set of lungs.

I would have felt really bad had she died in the shell because no one helped.
I feel like incubators are already artificial and when it's a humidity problem, not a deformity, gotta do what you can.

So, I'll let you know.
Keep your fingers crossed.

thanks for your thoughts and advice

 

[Paganbird]

Oh my!
Glad it worked out well!
If it makes you feel better...
The three that I have helped due to humidity problems are alive and well.
I was partly to blame for the humidity problem, though, so it wasn't so much a "natrual ablity to hatch" problem as it was a "shouldn't have opened the 'bator" problem.
Two of the three I helped were silkies. I really wanted them to make it. I had opened the incubator to take out some chicks after about 10 hours. My humidity dropped & I shrink-wrapped a silkie! I helped him hatch because I knew he was stuck. I can hear him crow in the morning now! The other two were from 2 other separate hatches. They're healthy & well.
Sorry if I sounded a little negative. I was thinking of the last chick I "helped." It did not have a pleasant ending.
I'm glad to hear your chick is doing well!
You did the right thing.

ETA: spelling correction

 

[mediazeal]

Thanks PaganBird

No worries. Your thoughts were very important to weigh in my decision to help.
I completely understand that when we help chicks that are not strong enough to make it, they are often the ones that die anyway.
Shrink wrapping is not a natural genetic disorder however, it is an incubator problem and I knew the hatch had a somewhat low humidity beause it has been really dry here this month.

I appreciate your thoughts and being willing to talk with me about it.

I'm still worrying of course. Little chick is still pretty wet and unhappy and, of course, stressed. She's flopping around and lying on her side alot, but really she was stuck in one position way too long and is still gooey.

I might have stressed her too much. She was cold by incubator standards as I freed her with tweezers. It's slow work.
I just need to let her dry out and warm up and see how she does.
She'll make it or she won't.

thanks