What should we do?

michelle Bray

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Ok this Bantam Red Silkie, pecked his first hole in its shell this morning at 10am pst. The humidity dropped in Southern California in the last 2 days of lock down and it was registering at 49%. So we opened up the bator and filled the troff w water and put a moist paper towel under the egg because right after his beak came thru the membrane around him dried and turned to leather. While we had the top off we moistened the membrane and gently peeled the shell slightly for him. There really has been no progress since. He is totally still alive and chirping but isnt moving forward and its 7pm. You can see from the photo what his hole looks like, I am just not sure how he can peck around the air sack area to actually get out. Help Help!

56644_p5060066.jpg
 
Can you tell if the blood has been absorbed by the chick yet? I had a chick like that last week that was active and busy in there for 24 hours after she pipped, but never zipped around the egg. I helped and she's fine. I just kept picking back tiny pieces of shell, watching to be sure it wasn't more than that and trying to see if the blood supply had been absorbed by her. I helped her all the way out over a period of about an hour. I also used a spray bottle to moisten the surrounding membrane as I went along. She wasn't a fan of rain in her incubator!

Good luck!
 
What does it look like when the blood has been absorbed. Because I stopped helping her in this one area because I ran across a vein, I really dont want this chick to die, I have 3 little boys watching its every move. I am so happy to hear that yours didnt die after you helped it. Should I wait the full 24 hours? Did any other eggs hatch after you tampered with this one, cause this is the first of 7 eggs total to have action. Thanks so much for your help
 
Quote:
If you saw a vein full of blood (tiny though they are) it still needs to be absorbed.
This is the one I helped and she looked like that 24 hours after the first pip. She should've zipped around the egg by that point and just wasn't making any progress. She has a slightly deformed toe and I'm thinking there was something wrong with her position in the egg that made hatching difficult for her.
43104_4-3-10_bsm_windy_5.jpg


This photo is from a hatch earlier this year. If you look inside the egg, you can see what remains after the hatch. You can see the little blood vessels, but they're empty as all the blood has been absorbed.
43104_2-11-10_hatched_soupy_28.jpg


I'm no expert, but these things vary greatly. It's like having a human baby, some babies are born shortly after the first contraction, some take days! Just pay attention to the progress and the behavior of the chick. If it seems to be in obvious distress, then you might want to give it a hand. But be careful not to try to help just because your an anxious new parent as you may do more harm than good.
There is a school of thought that says if it's meant to have trouble hatching, it's Natural Selection and it probably is too weak to survive anyway.

I only had two eggs develop of the 7 that I started with initially. Here's a link to the thread I had about my last hatch. It was drama-filled and will give you something else to do besides worry about the little guy!
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https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=323669

You're
doing the right thing by paying attention. Watch the humidity. If you have a squirt bottle with a fine mist, give a little squirt if the humidity isn't where it should be. Let the chick do its thing and try not to worry (too much).
 

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