Hatched Chicks damaging unhatched eggs???

[wjhuskey]

I've been taking my hatched chicks out of the incubator about 24 hours after they hatch...sometimes quicker if they're dried and fluffy and standing to their feet. I have several that are still very wet looking even 12 hours after they've hatched so I'm leaving these in the incubator for at least 24 hours. Is a heat lamp just as good as a incubator for the first hours after the chick has hatched? If it is, it may be best to go ahead and put them in there with that warm lamp after an hour or so??? Because they are aggressively bumping the unhatched eggs and I'm wondering if jarring the eggs like this can damage them?

 

[sumi]

Hatched chicks in the incubator won't harm the unhatched eggs. I've heard their cheeping and activity encourages the unhatched chicks. Though them knocking the others around can be nerve wrecking! If the chick is not drying off it could be the humidity is too high in there for it to do so, so put it under the heat lamp in the brooder.

 

[wjhuskey]

Well I've had two chicks die since yesterday and when I removed them from the incubator, they both had what looked like guts squeezed out of the rectum area. This makes me wonder if the other chicks had trampled it to death when it was freshly born and before it was old enough to stand??? What happened? Anyone know???

 

[sumi]

From what you described they may have had a prolapse. It usually shows up within a few hours after the chick hatched. It's unlikely they could've been squeezed hard enough by the other chicks to cause this.

Are these eggs from the same hen? The 2 chicks that died? Prolapse, if that was the cause here, is hereditary, so there's a pretty good chance any future chicks hatched from that hen's eggs may have the same problem.

 

[wjhuskey]

I'm not sure if they're from the same hen.....

 

[sumi]

Were they from your own hens?

 

[wjhuskey]

Yes all of the eggs incubated came from my flock of hens

 

[Aunt BB]

I am having this same issue w/ some of my newly hatched chicks (they come out of the egg w/ what looks to be their "insides"). Were you able to find out if your chicks had prolapse or not and is there by chance a cure for this?

 

[wjhuskey]

I hadn't even heard of prolapse in baby chicks until Sumi told me about it in the replys above. I'm not 100% sure that is what it was but I'm 99% sure since Sumi thinks that's what it sounded like.

 

[Aunt BB]

Hello. I noticed you were helping another gentleman w/ a hatching issue to be prolapse. Is there a way to treat my hens so this may be prevented in the future. I have hatched many eggs from my girls (I've had them 2 + yrs no new) and this is just happening w/ the chicks. Any and all advise you could give to a "newby" hatcher would be greatly appreciated.