Urgent - Need Help with partially Hatched Baby Chick!!

[RogueChickens]

Hello... I'm "new" to the forum, but not new in that I've been reading for a couple of years (4) and we have a nice flock of various breeds of chickens, both standard and bantam. On Monday, my husband came in from letting everyone out of the coop into the run, with a baby chick in his hands...the baby had escaped the nest box 3 feet up, and was marching in line with the others to go outside! We have 3 nest boxes and 2 Bantam D'Uccles sitting in one box, a Buff Orpington in another, and a Barred Rock in the 3rd. We tried the with D'Uccles to see if one of them was the Momma, but no, they pecked it, so we brought in the Buffy and she went straight into Momma mode: clucking, fluffing, and allowing it to run under her. All was/is good.

Two days later, he heard another cheep cheep from the eggs in the nesting box - which after Monday we dated with pencil to try to keep track of what was going on. Brought that egg in, with a small pip, put it under the Buffy, and about five hours later - Another beautiful little chick, which she cooed, and fluffed up for and all was and is good.

So today, we find yet another egg which is cheeping, but no pip. We bring it into the dog crate where Momma and babies are, and put it under her. All is good for about an hour or so, then I hear a distress/painful cheep and look over and Momma is pecking the heck outta the shell (no previous pip). Not knowing exactly the process (if the momma should be assisting or not), I wait a little bit before taking action. About 15 minutes goes by and I hear the distress cheep again and Momma is again pecking the heck outta the shell and now I see a little bit of baby chick and some blood. So we took the egg out and in ignorance, try to peel away the shell.... it was not easy, but the little chick was breathing and eyes opening and closing.

I then got on line, came to the site, did some research, and realize that both Momma and us jumped the gun in trying to release the chick. We now have it on damp paper towels, in a separate box, with a heat lamp close by. Is there anything else we should do? Anything else we can do? I do not see an egg yolk sac, but part of the shell is still on, and that is the part around the bottom. We are not going to touch anything else. Is there anything we should do? We cannot see it breathing, but if we move it slightly by moving the paper towel it is lying on, it does slightly open its eyes. At what point do we give up? How can we tell when to give up? And, if we do, what action should we take to painlessly allow it die? Thank you all for your help.

 

[Majd]

Ohh... that's so sad.. the fault biggins when you allow chickens to sit on random eggs... random times...etc... now you should put it under his original mama... and let it hatch by itself.... actually is the one that pecked it the mother... or you took it out of a bator.. or from under another hen?? Anyways... make sure that the blood vessels.. on the inside of the egg are completely out of blood to start helping it to hatch... when they dry out. .. try peeling a cirle of shell just like chicks do using a tip of sterilized metal thing like nail cleaner tip... then allow him to push through the egg to allow it to absorbe the yolk in the bottom of the egg that you can't now see.. afterwards make sure that he has strength enough for him to struggle out of the egg.. if no movements after an hour or so.... try removing the membrane from the part where you removed the shell.. then gently squeeze a bit on the chick to let him push more and absorb the yolk then leave him to rest under his mommy.... but all of that won't work if the temperature and humidity aren't ideal.. you can't just leave him under a heat lamp dreaming that he's perfect like that.. he can be roasted if the temp is too high or freeze to death if too low... and if humidity in under 80 % there's a risk of stucking to the membrane... or if it is too high (probably not) more than 85 % he can drawn in water.... few pics are very helpfull.... I'm not sleeping today to hear all the updates and hoping to give this little guy a chance.... keep us posted. .. best wishes...
Majd..

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm confused. Why was your husband bringing partially hatched eggs into the house and not leaving them under the hen that was setting on them? That is the best place for them to be. I don't think your Buff was helping that last one. I think she was trying to kill it because she figured out that it wasn't hers. (I think you lucked out with the second one). She is probably out of "hatching" mode and into "raising chicks" mode. Let the other broodies hatch their own chicks, and everyone will be better off. At this point for the chick, I would just let it be and let nature take its course. It may or may not survive.

 

[RogueChickens]

Thank you both for responding. Yes we goofed up; in the four years we've had our chickens this is the first time we've had any hatch and were caught totally unprepared mentally and off guard. The problem with the mothers is we have 3 nesting boxes and five hens who sit, so figuring out who belongs to whom is confusing because they all rotate around!

And this Momma is the only one who would just go eat and come right back, so thankfully she's in total momma mode for the two that have survived so far. I don't think this latest one is going to make it either... We've decided we'll collect any eggs we find with a cheep and a pip and note who was sitting at time of collection, and then try to keep em warm and going with a heating pad. If they hatch, we will just raise them ourselves as we did with our others. We don't have an incubator or the means to get one right now. Dang it! Thanks again very much.