Using humidifier to stop drying out

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wemimew

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Apr 17, 2019
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All of my chicks have hatched under my broody except the last one (and the one I most want to hatch!) with problems here and there but nothing out of the ordinary. This last egg has been peeping for over a day so I made a little hole just off from the beak to prevent it running out of air overnight. I am worried about the membrane drying out (egg and mum are in a crate in my bathtub at the moment lol) so was thinking about putting a humidifier on - is this a good idea? I was hoping to make a small crack, but it turned out as a small hole. Seeing as this chick is having problems hatching I am not thinking it will survive, but I want to give it every chance. What are your thoughts?
 
wemimew said:
All of my chicks have hatched under my broody except the last one (and the one I most want to hatch!) with problems here and there but nothing out of the ordinary. This last egg has been peeping for over a day so I made a little hole just off from the beak to prevent it running out of air overnight. I am worried about the membrane drying out (egg and mum are in a crate in my bathtub at the moment lol) so was thinking about putting a humidifier on - is this a good idea? I was hoping to make a small crack, but it turned out as a small hole. Seeing as this chick is having problems hatching I am not thinking it will survive, but I want to give it every chance. What are your thoughts?
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All the chicks here are hatched by broody hens and have been for the last eight years.
It took me a couple of attempts to save partially hatched, or sickly chicks that mum deserted at the nest site, to realise that any interference on my part while seeming the right thing to do was in fact in the long term, misguided.
Hens know what they are doing. They've been doing this hatching business for a very long time. There are reasons hens abandon partially hatched and sick chicks that don't become apparent until a later date.
Briefly, the optimum hatch for a hen is when all the chicks hatch in as short a time frame as possible. Hens, by communicating with the embryos can adjust the hatch timing. This means all the chicks are at a similar level of development when she leaves the nest. This helps to minimize the advantage a chicks say 36 hours older than the rest would have in a staggered hatch for example.
My view now is if you are going to let a broody hen sit and hatch then from that point on you trust her judgment and not interfere.
I have a hen that has just hatched 3 out of 4. The 4th egg did pip, but for whatever reason the chick didn't make it out of the shell. Maybe I could have done an assisted hatch but the mother will leave this partially hatched chick without a second thought.
P9101796.JPG
 
Shadrach said:
All the chicks here are hatched by broody hens and have been for the last eight years.
It took me a couple of attempts to save partially hatched, or sickly chicks that mum deserted at the nest site, to realise that any interference on my part while seeming the right thing to do was in fact in the long term, misguided.
Hens know what they are doing. They've been doing this hatching business for a very long time. There are reasons hens abandon partially hatched and sick chicks that don't become apparent until a later date.
Briefly, the optimum hatch for a hen is when all the chicks hatch in as short a time frame as possible. Hens, by communicating with the embryos can adjust the hatch timing. This means all the chicks are at a similar level of development when she leaves the nest. This helps to minimize the advantage a chicks say 36 hours older than the rest would have in a staggered hatch for example.
My view now is if you are going to let a broody hen sit and hatch then from that point on you trust her judgment and not interfere.
I have a hen that has just hatched 3 out of 4. The 4th egg did pip, but for whatever reason the chick didn't make it out of the shell. Maybe I could have done an assisted hatch but the mother will leave this partially hatched chick without a second thought.
View attachment 1903961
Click to expand...
My hatch was very staggered so her chicks are not with her at the moment, they hang out in a brooder in another room and visit her and have a cuddle a couple of times a day. I bought some eggs and think that they may have already been under a broody because they hatched in dat 18! I was not prepared at all for that! She is a great mother and is still sitting on the egg that isn’t hatching (I don’t have an incubator) - she hasn’t abandoned it at all and Is still chatting to it. I have put an humidifier on in the room and have a wet cotton pad under the egg so hopefully that works - it’s worth a shot anyway because the chick probably wouldn’t have gotten out of the egg anyway - it is the last egg to hatch so I am not worried about making it too humid.
 
One thing I would love to know if anyone has experience with it - how will I know if the membrane has dried out in the egg? Now there is a small hole I was going to leave it for another day to see if the little one can do it on her own, but obviously if she is glued in there she won’t be able to
 
wemimew said:
My hatch was very staggered so her chicks are not with her at the moment, they hang out in a brooder in another room and visit her and have a cuddle a couple of times a day. I bought some eggs and think that they may have already been under a broody because they hatched in dat 18! I was not prepared at all for that! She is a great mother and is still sitting on the egg that isn’t hatching (I don’t have an incubator) - she hasn’t abandoned it at all and Is still chatting to it. I have put an humidifier on in the room and have a wet cotton pad under the egg so hopefully that works - it’s worth a shot anyway because the chick probably wouldn’t have gotten out of the egg anyway - it is the last egg to hatch so I am not worried about making it too humid.
Click to expand...
Why have you taken her babies away from her? Are you afraid she will abandon this one egg for them?
 
ValerieJ said:
Why have you taken her babies away from her? Are you afraid she will abandon this one egg for them?
Click to expand...
My eggs all hatched at odd times! I was planning on day 20&21 for them to hatch but it started way too early. I took them otherwise over half would of been abandoned, she’s getting them back though - she’s a great mom and that’s too many chicks for me to fuss over.
 
Well definitely leave the hatched chicks under her and she provides the proper humidity and temperature to hatch the pipped egg. I'm a bit confused as to your thoughts? If chick has been trying to get out for over 12 hours possibly you need to assist a bit to get it hatched?
 

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