[WARNING][GRAPHIC] I messed up bad...did I do the right thing? :/

[Sgsf]

Please do not read this post if you are upset easily.
Please do not read this post if you are upset easily.
Please do not read this post if you are upset easily.
Please do not read this post if you are upset easily.
Please do not read this post if you are upset easily.

There some eggs still in the nest where the hens were getting up. Some of the eggs have already hatched, but there were still some left. I was thinking about getting rid of the eggs, and so I started to move them out. Well, I dropped two eggs...one was a rotten egg, and one of them had a weird light light orange liquid that came out of it. It may have been the yolk, but it was a very weird color. Anyways, I thought that thats two bad eggs, so I mine as well get rid of the rest. So I dug a hole to put the eggs in. Well, one of the eggs cracked upon when it fell in. A lot of blood came out, and there was a live chick to do.

I didn't know what to do, because I knew it wasn't going to survive now. Because there was veins still over the inside of the egg, and it was in a pool of blood still in the early stages of development I guess. The only options I had was to let it sit there and eventually die, kill it with the shovle (not smashing the poor chick), or bury it. I decided to chop it's head off with the shovle then bury the whole egg. I returned all eggs to the nest even if some might have been bad. I couldn't go through that again.

Can someone please tell me I did the right thing by killing it like that? I had no culling experience, and I was trying to think what you guys would've told me to do. I wasn't going to let it have a slow death, because thats cruel... - I know it wouldn't have survived anyways. So I felt the best option for the chick was the shovle.

Can someone please tell me I did the right thing? I wish I had never messed with the eggs. Its just that the eggs were in there for over 21 days, around 25.​

 

[jcfuente51]

once upon time i ( my last hatch) i candle on day 12 and i swear i saw a blood ring on my egg so i decided to take out of the incubator and i opened it up to see the inside and tehre was a baby 10 days old alive i just ran feeling like $#l3T and a minute lated when i came back to see it it was all dried and dead da,mn i felt horrible the whole day....
babys at that short age could dye in seconds i guess....


dont feel bad things happen for a reason always do!!!

 

[SunsetFarms]

I think you did the right thing in not letting it suffer.

 

[crazyforchicks]

You totally did the right thing in that instance! Culling is never going to be something I am gonna be comfortable with but it is way harder to watch it die slowly. Many hugs go out your way, Its never easy to have to do that kinda thing.

 

[MSH]

I agree you did what I would have done in that moment I have never had to cull anything yet knock on wood better that you did it quick than to let it suffer hugs !

 

[Abirdbrain]

Sorry, but you did right. I screwed up today and lost two of my favorite birds to a stupid dog, and a moment of time. I hooked up to my Hen Hut tractor coop, about the size of a Rabbit hutch. I only had to move it 8 feet for new grass, for the 15 Orps and B Rocks inside. Mom was standing by, the move commenced, the girls ran toward her, she whacked the cage wire with a stick, the dog stooped down and woofed trying to help, the girls ran every which way, piled up in a corner, and 2 got stuck under the cage, Crushed. I lifted the cage off, but in seconds the eyes closed, they went limp. Mom was upset, the dog got blamed, I felt bad, and you learn not to create a commotion. A second move trapped a leg of on older hen, under much the same conditions of Bedlam. Moving slowly, they are smart enough to get out of the way, unless distracted.

Late candling is small help, but can be done. Late hatchlings happen with natural mothers. Little peeps can be heard along with movements on a smooth table. Lumps of goo can be removed, not all survive no matter what.

 

[crossgirl]

Oh, honey, you did the right thing. I can't think of anything you could have done differently that would have been better.

 

[Razadia]

You did the right thing. I did something like this and it ended up leading me to BYC in hopes of it never happening again. It was our first hatch of the year and I don't have an incubator, so once the hens get off the nest I toss the eggs in the field next us. They never break on impact, so I always had to go over the fence and finish the job. Three bad eggs and a day 19 chick. I killed the poor thing because I didn't know to candle them before I tossed them. I know now and it will NEVER happen again if I can help it. I'm getting an incubator tomorrow and I'll hatch my own chicks from here on out. Unless a broody manages to hide eggs from me.

 

[squeak1387]

I want u to know that I had an incubated batch of eggs that were like 4 days over due and 70 percent had hatched. So I took the eggs into the woods where I like to crack them to see if it was a dud or if they just died or didn't fully develop. I cracked them all, mostly duds, one didn't develop much at all and then I cracked the last one. I hear a horrible sound. Peeping...

it was horrible it was alive but all bloody and still had a little yolk. I didn't have anything around to kill it with, except a rock. I hated every moment of it, but I knew they weren't gonna make it