UPDATED...HELP PLEASE - SEE Page 4 #34

[michelle1017]

Congrats on your new babies!

 

[hatchaholic]

I have 5 chicks now, and 2 more are pipping!!

 

[Shanchick]

I hope that everything is turning out ok and all is settling down!
Any out of the shell yet?

Congrats!!!!

 

[hatchaholic]

For the most part, I don't want to intervene in hatching. But, I'm wondering if this is a case where I should. Let me tell you the situation, and PLEASE, give me any and all advice, pro and con...

My eggs were shipped and some have some irregular shaped air cells. Kinda like a V on one or two sides. I'm not sure if this is one of those eggs or not, but it could be. With that said...

My first pip happened yesterday between 2:00 and 5:00, not quite sure of the time. Today, the chick hasn't made much progress compared to the others. I've already had 5 hatch out in a much shorter time. This chick has been very active, trying to move around and zip the shell, but not quite doing much. Is it possible that the chick is too big for the shell? If so, do I help?? And if I do, when???

PLEASE give me advice.

This is the progress on day one, not long after I noticed the pip.

This is the progress as of tonight.

 

[hatchaholic]

Anybody?

 

[hinkjc]

Kim, your incubation humidity was pretty low. Are you opening the bator for the pics? If so, the chick is probably stuck. The membrane looks pretty yellow and dry to me. I am not an advocate of helping at all, but if you made mistakes the chick may not complete hatch on their own. Do you have any new pips? If you have new pips, I would not touch it, as it will put the rest of your hatch at risk of failure. Helping is an individual judgment call. As a general rule, most will say don't help until you are on day 21 (and it has been at least 24-48 hour since the chick pipped) or once the hatch is considered complete (meaning there is no chance of anything else hatching on its own).

Are there chicks still in the hatcher? If so, maybe give the chick until morning to see if it progresses on its own. The other chicks are good encouragers. Good luck.

Jody

 

[hatchaholic]

Thanks, Jody.

No I haven't opened the hatcher at all after putting the eggs in. I took the pictures thru the lid. I do have another pip right now, and the chick is working the shell over pretty good. There are also 5 or 6 other eggs that I'm waiting on.

They did start hatching early...day 19. So, maybe if I give it another day, it will make progress.

If it's breathing normally and moving around from time to time, should I worry so much?

ETA: The other 5 chicks are still in there. I didn't want to open the bator while the others were pipping.

 

[hinkjc]

It sounds like you're doing fine. I would wait until the hatch is complete before interfering. It is best to give the healthy strong chicks a chance first.

Jody

 

[Wildsky]

If you do have to intervene, make sure your bator is in a room - door closed and a space heater on to make that room as hot as you can get it.
You need two people to do it with good speed.

bowl of pretty warm water (it will cool before you get going so take two bowls if you're not sure on temp) a syringe will help - you can use it to drop little drops of water directly onto the membrane - be careful to avoid the chick's beak and face. Papertowels.

You fold a few paper towels (so they're LONG, I fold twice in one direction so they're skinny but long), stack em up to keep handy and dip in the warm/hot water and lay it in your hand, fast as you can, have someone open the bator and you snatch the egg out and into the warm wet papertowel. You can wrap the papertowel around the end you're not working on, or just kinda flip it over to keep that egg hot and moist.

Use tweezers to pick of little bits of shell, be carefull not to go through the membrane - just pick off shell first.
Don't keep that egg out for longer than a couple of minutes.

Second person dip another papertowel in the warm/hot water and wrap around the egg - not over the open part. And fast as a flash put it back in the bator.

Wait .

If you need to go in again, you might need to start picking/pulling off pieces of the membrane - at this point if you see ANY blood at all - put that egg back in a new papertowel and back in the bator.

You might need to do the process 3 or 4 times, if the chick doesn't help itself.

The split seconds that bator is open, I've only notices a slight drop in humidity - I don't think I ever dropped the temp at all.

REMEMBER - room HOT with a space heater. enough so that YOU are uncomfortable.

GOOD LUCK

 

[hatchaholic]

Quote:
I agree, but it is very hard. (I actually just paid way too much money for a runt pig just b/c I felt sorry for it..)I have 2 others pipping/zipping right now, and I don't want to lose them by doing the wrong thing. I will just wait. If it is still alive when I get home from work tomorrow (that will be over 48 hours) I may do something then.

And, wildsky, thanks for the instructions.