Partially hatched chick

[costello]

I had 10 chicks hatch on Nov. 23 and 24. An eleventh made a pip hole and chipped most of the circle to push off the top. Then it seemed to get stuck. It was cheeping but not making any progress in hatching.

I waited over 24 hours, then I violated the rule not to help the chick hatch. I finished cracking the rest of the top off. It's still attached by some film, and I left in it place. The next day the chick had fallen silent, and I assumed it had died.

Just now I was in the room that had the box of chicks and the incubator. I kept hearing a distress cheep which didn't seem to be coming from the chicks' box. I counted them, and they were all present. Then I realized the sound was coming from the incubator. I thought one of the remaining eggs had hatched. When I checked, though, I found the partially hatched chick was still alive.

What do I do? Leave it alone? Help it? It's got a good loud cheep, so it seems to be strong enough.

Has anyone seen anything like this (I'm a newbie)? Any advice?

 

[costello]

Update: I used these instructions (https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/9316/intervention-helping-your-chicks-hatch) and chipped the shell off the chick. The membrane was completely dried out.

 

[Aphrael]

Is the chick doing okay now that you got it out of the shell?

 

[costello]

It looks dead to me, but I'm not absolutely sure. It was moving around a bit, but now it's just very still.

 

[Aphrael]

Awwww.

I'm sorry.

 

[costello]

Thanks. I guess I've learned something. At some point the do-not-help-the-hatching-chick rule is off the table. The reason I kept the chick, instead of throwing it away immediately, is that I'd intended to open it and see if I could figure what went wrong with it. I just wish I'd done it sooner. Maybe the wee one would have made it.

 

[yuaan]

Hi ,
I am so sorry to know about you loss. You have done a good job by trying to help the chick . The reason i am saying this is that In my last incubation i had 9 eggs and out of 9 there were 6 chicks who have made external pip on the wrong end ( miss positioned) so I helped them out and all of them survived and now when i think if i had stuck to the quote on not helping chicks then i would have lost 6 of them ,.

My chicken are 3 months old now all 9 are healthy.
In future use you instinct and if you think that some thing is wrong then do not hesitate to intervene .

 

[Aphrael]

I do not agree at all with the "never help hatch" school of thought. Granted, I am very new to incubation, but I seriously doubt my opinion on that will change. I do think it is very important to know all about the steps a chick goes through while hatching so you will have a better grasp of when it might be necessary to step in and assist. I'm so sorry you were unable to save your chick.

It is so much harder to lose them when they have reached hatch than if they quit early on. It is for me anyway.

 

[scotter]

I had four mispositioned chicks in my recent hatch, the first one I kept a hands off approach and it died. an eggtopsy showed that it had one leg up behind its head and was unable to maneuver around to unzip the shell. It was obvious that with limited assistance it would have survived. I found two more with basically the same problem, and I gave them the help they they needed (one had to be pretty much completely shelled) and they are doing well. The forth one pipped on the small end and I knew it would not be able to unzip the egg. I helped it by carefully removing the end of the shell making sure that the circulatory system in the membrane was not active. some of them took quite a while but the three extra chicks were worth it to me. I wish I had helped the first one.