What is wrong with my baby chick? :(

[Candice W]

I have an Easter Egger that just hatched this morning about midnight. She is going on 24 hours old. She pipped on day 23 and a few hours later she started to zip. She was doing so well and was about half to 3/4 done and then she stopped. There was no chirping and she stopped moving. I waited for about 5 hours and still no sound, no movement. She would occasionally kick like when they move and the egg opens a little at the zip point. After reading the extensive post on BYC regarding assisting with hatching, I decided that was the best thing. I only took a little shell off at one time, leaving the lining, which was drying out. Then I would wet the dry areas and put her back in the incubator to see if she would finish. I did that several times, and then on the last time I took another piece of shell off and she kicked and out she came. I was shocked by her size and couldn't believe she actually fit in that egg!!! So she did fine, was in the incubator drying off. She is now roughly 16 hours old. I went in to check on her to see if she was ready for the brooder and she was on her back. Now I know they do that sometimes after they hatch, but the reason she is doing it is because she keeps looking up, putting her head back and it ends up throwing her onto her back. She starts to stomp her feet trying to keep from falling back. Her feet seem awfully big, but not sure if that is a problem. I tried to her in the brooder with the others and she trys to stand up and walk but she ends up crawling on her feet and legs, if that makes sense. The the other chicks started picking on her. So she is back in the incubator. Also when she hatched everything was done as far as development and no bleeding or anything. I think she was just having a hard time getting out. The other thing... I bought these eggs from someone here in my town. I had 4 Easter Egger eggs and 3 of them became rotten and she is the only one that developed. One of the rotten ones started to seep that brown looking liquid. I threw it away and then after the fact noticed that there was a little bit of the liquid from that egg had gotten on to her egg and by the time I saw it it was already dried up. So I'm not sure if this is from bacteria getting into her egg, or if it's a genitic disorder. I started looking more at her feet and they seem abnormally large. This is just breaking my heart!!! I'm going to try to upload a video. Some of it you will just have to watch to get to the part where you can see what she is doing that is not normal. If something is wrong, what do I do???

Still can't figure out how to do the video. I will post one when I do.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Late hatching chicks exhaust their reserves and in my experience never fully recover. Extremely large chicks for the size of eggshell is a classic example of a late hatch. Did you notice where the chick's head was in relation to her body, especially in relation to her right wing?

 

[Candice W]

 

[Candice W]

Late hatching chicks exhaust their reserves and in my experience never fully recover. Extremely large chicks for the size of eggshell is a classic example of a late hatch. Did you notice where the chick's head was in relation to her body, especially in relation to her right wing?

I'm trying to remember where her head was in relationship to her right wing... I'm going to have to think on that one. I can see it, but then when I try to remember the position of her body, I'm having a hard time. Probably because I'm going on very little sleep.

 

[Candice W]

 

[Candice W]

Late hatching chicks exhaust their reserves and in my experience never fully recover. Extremely large chicks for the size of eggshell is a classic example of a late hatch. Did you notice where the chick's head was in relation to her body, especially in relation to her right wing?

I figured out the videos. Tell me what you think after you watch them. Thanks!!!
I was told my someone to not put her with my other chicks in case she has something that could spread to the others. So she is in her own brooder. I can tell she is lonley. Makes me sad!! Do you think that this is something that she can give to the others or something developmentally, genetics, or just that she is very large. Tell me what you think about her feet.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

A chicks head is supposed to be under its right wing at the start of hatching. This is the best position for its beak to pierce the air cell so that the chick can get its first breath of air and to begin turning inside of the egg to cut the top off the shell with its egg tooth.

If your problem chick has a contagious disease (which I do not believe) she has likely already passed anything she had before hatching to her nest mates. The other chicks may however encourage her to get up and get moving. IMHO you have nothing to lose. But I think that the extra two days she spent in the egg may have already resulted in leg or bone development issues.

 

[Candice W]

What do you think about her always putting her head up in the air and back until she ends up flipping herself onto her back? Is that something neurological or like brain damage from lack of oxygen being stuck for so long in the zipping process?