Urgent! Chick malpositioned, hatching assistance!

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC, so sorry for your loss.

 

[LaFleche]

Incubator.

What kind of incubator was it? Did you have to turn the eggs manually several times a day?

I think it important to find out why the egg development was at different stages so you will be able to avoid the mistake the next time.

 

[PenguPen]

What kind of incubator was it? Did you have to turn the eggs manually several times a day?

I think it important to find out why the egg development was at different stages so you will be able to avoid the mistake the next time.

its a homemade incubator...yes I was opening the door to turn the eggs, and I had troubles regulating temp. I got a few malpositioned eggs.

i believe I have taken care of my previous issues and I am trying again but only with a doz eggs from a friend. I’m 16 days into it and 5-6 seem viable. I’ve made something for turning the eggs so I don’t have to open the door, and fixed my heating source. My only worry is on day 13 we lost power for about 8 hrs and the temp dropped to 80ish.

 

[Eggscaping]

I'm so very sorry you lost your chick. I can only give you a bit of help I think. When I helped mine hatch, I did so because they were all shipped eggs and some of the air cells were positioned in the wrong place. So, after reading a lot of the "to help hatch or not" articles here, I did help. Please don't take this as an expert's recounting, I only did it on one hatch. For me, I became confident enough after helping one egg that I felt I could do it again, and did twice more on two other eggs.
When the chick in the egg is at the stage where it wants to get out, you can make a tiny hole - a safety hole - in the air cell for it to breathe, because now it has its head in the air cell and can only exist on that tiny bit of stored air for a measured time. If you very carefully remove more shell, as you did, you can now see blood vessels. If they are red and obviously full of blood, you can't chance breaking them. If you do, the chick will bleed out. You can't proceed until you see that the blood vessels have shrunk, and turned from blood read to a sort of light orange. No blood in them. Then, you can see how the chick is positioned. In one case - for me - the chick had the head sort of stuck under a foot and I very, very carefully moved the leg from over the head with a slender glass eyedropper. It was a case of peel shell, see live blood vessels - wait a bit - look again, peel a bit more - wait - and all the while I was lubricating the membrane with a very tiny brush dipped in coconut oil. At one point I had to wait several hours and the chick, while curled up and cramped with its leg over its head was still viable and got out, with me nearly peeling all the rest of the shell off of it. It is now, sadly, a spunky, just-beginning-to-crow young cockerel.
It may be that your chick had something else wrong with it. Helping a baby hatch is always iffy. I was lucky. You did your best, you tried to help, and luck was not on your side. Good for you though, for trying, and you learned from it. In my opinion, you did the right thing!!!

 

[LaFleche]

its a homemade incubator...yes I was opening the door to turn the eggs, and I had troubles regulating temp. I got a few malpositioned eggs.

i believe I have taken care of my previous issues and I am trying again but only with a doz eggs from a friend. I’m 16 days into it and 5-6 seem viable. I’ve made something for turning the eggs so I don’t have to open the door, and fixed my heating source. My only worry is on day 13 we lost power for about 8 hrs and the temp dropped to 80ish.

From my experience I find it important to change the egg positions several times during incubation: The ones that are on the outer side must be changing positions with those on the inner circle, otherwise the development may differ quite a lot.

Regarding the 8 hrs temperature drop: This usually just leads to a belated hatch, expect them hatching up to one day later.

 

[C Siena]

From my experience I find it important to change the egg positions several times during incubation: The ones that are on the outer side must be changing positions with those on the inner circle, otherwise the development may differ quite a lot.

Regarding the 8 hrs temperature drop: This usually just leads to a belated hatch, expect them hatching up to one day later.

Golly, this is almost 5 years old but I must try to ask you. We have a NR360 and the inner circle of 6 is about degree cooler. On day 3-4 I began to rotate inner circle to outer circle every 8 hours. It is day 9 and I am wondering if I should do this 3 times a day or should lessen it to twice a day? or once? There are 22 eggs in it and I would say several are not fertile but will not be candling until late tonight or tomorrow morning (day 10 is tonight at 11pm). Thank you.

 

[LaFleche]

It is day 9 and I am wondering if I should do this 3 times a day or should lessen it to twice a day? or once?

Once a day will be enough.

 

[C Siena]

Once a day will be enough.

Thank you! That will mean once every three days, they will be the lower temp. Thank you again for your fast response.

 

[LaFleche]

...once every three days, they will be the lower temp.

You can change once every three days and leave them at the lower temperature for three days, or change every evening. Depending on how many rows of eggs are in the incubator.

 

[C Siena]

You can change once every three days and leave them at the lower temperature for three days, or change every evening. Depending on how many rows of eggs are in the incubator.

The NR360 has an inner ring of 6 and the outer ring is 18. I would think several+ are not fertilized, so when I candle, I may discard the ones that are evident in being so. Could possibly have all on the outer ring. Thanks.