What did I do wrong, so I don't do it again??? I think I killed a chick... PLEASE ADVISE!!!

[bethann33]

There was a lot of blood....*cringe*

 

[mstricer]

Oh- You know what? It pipped in the side of the egg. Not in the air space. Is that possibly why it had trouble coming out?

It probably did pip the air space, then the side of the egg. I have found that if the egg is to small, the chick can't turn and they.....you know

Sorry. Just leave the eggs be. Michele

 

[bethann33]

It was a small egg...

 

[bobbi-j]

Given the new information, I would say that the chick probably wouldn't have made it anyway.

 

[Nsampsel]

You said there was a lot of blood. That means the chick wasn't quite ready to come out. I had to assist several of mine from the 1st batch on this hatch. 3 of the 8 I had to help to any extent didn't make it. It was 3 of the 1st 4 & they had shrink wrapped cuz my kids kept opening the bator to look cuz it's up to high on my dresser for them to see thru the windows without me picking them up. The ones that didn't make it were ones I either helped too soon or too late. The 1st one wasn't quite ready, too much blood still in the membrane & I didn't wait long enuf for it to stop flowing thru the membrane before I tore the mebrane. The 2nd one, I accidently ruptured the yolk sack while trying to remove shell to allow it to hatch. The 3rd one I got paranoid about touching & waited too long to try to help & it just gave up. There was a 4th that never made it thru the membrane to pip that I couldn't save. Most of the others I just removed the top (big end) of the shell as much as possible, wet the membrane really well & wiggled/slid it down over their beak & head until they were able to straighten their neck out. Then I tipped the egg upside down over my hand & let gravity assist the chick in sliding from the shell. Once they slid most of the way out, I would return them to the bator & let them finish kicking loose. The only one that I had to entirely assist with pip & all was 1 I had been hearing peep for several hours & still no pip. It was in an extremely small egg as compared to the others of it's breed & had not turned completely. It's head was still at the narrow end of the egg. It couldn't even turn it's little head from under it's wing to hit the shell. It's a miracle it managed to pip internally. The only thing that saved it was a wonky air cell that ran almost entirely down the side of the egg from being shipped.

 

[bethann33]

Thank-you very much. That was very helpful. This one was 'shrink wrapped'. What does that indicate?

 

[cmfarm]

That can indicate that the humidity was too low. Are you sure they were shrink wrapped? They can also get sticky from too much humidity and get stuck as well.

 

[NYREDS]

You didn't necessarily mess up. Sometimes they just are not strong enough to hatch, or survive if they do hatch. I've tried a couple of times to "help", but have decided from now on to let nature take its course. I know that people do help and the chicks survive, and all is well, but that has not been my experience.

Good advice. A chick that c n't hatch on it's own is generally deficient in some way. I know it's tempting to try to help them out of the shell but it seldom yields a good result. Sometimes they
survive but rarely do they thrive. If you do succeed in saving one what have you accomplished? You've saved a bird that nature intended not survive. It's a bird that in all liklihood won't do well
as an adult & if used for breeding will proably pass along it's weakness to it's offspring.

 

[NYREDS]

Dont feel bad, he/she is in heaven eating all the treat it could ever want.

What an interesting theology you must have.

 

[Nsampsel]

Good advice. A chick that c n't hatch on it's own is generally deficient in some way. I know it's tempting to try to help them out of the shell but it seldom yields a good result. Sometimes they
survive but rarely do they thrive. If you do succeed in saving one what have you accomplished? You've saved a bird that nature intended not survive. It's a bird that in all liklihood won't do well
as an adult & if used for breeding will proably pass along it's weakness to it's offspring.

This is not necessarily true. I can just about guarantee I wouldn't have had to help any of mine except maybe the one in the extremely small egg if my children hadn't kept opening the bator to see them hatching. All are doing great now.