So I assisted a hatch....

[rbc-bow-chicka]

I am not new to hatching... and after my first inexperienced and miserable hatch assist attempt in 2015, I am cautious to make sure I am moving forward properly.

Chicks started pipping and hatching mid Sunday morning. Today is Monday.

All eggs were candled on Friday before being placed into the hatcher.

Out of 11 eggs, 9 hatched without incident. One shows no sign of life and thus has not hatched.

The egg that I assisted... had pipped and was chirping but had a very dry membrane from what I could see. With the other eggs effortlessly hatching, humidity was hovering over 75% over 4 hygrometers that had not been calibrated.

I removed the chicks to the brooder, added water to the hatcher replaced the cover and went about my business for a couple of hours. The humidity increased to over 80. No further activity with pipping... chick actively chirping when egg touched.

I decided to open the pip a bit.... the membrane was DRY.... so pulled off maybe 1/4 of the shell, wrapped it in a wet paper towel and returned to the incubator. About an hour later, I tried to remove some of the now damp membrane and blood appeared. Stopped, covered and put back for another half an hour. This went on for a while. Like hours. At one point, I got to the part of the membrane that had shrink wrapped. I have never seen anything like this. There was no way the chick was getting out. So I continued to proceed and stop. Finally, most of the shell was off. I left the part connected to its bottom and much of the inner membrane with remaining vessels was still intact... so I left it alone... and it just wasn't coming around. Wet the towel again and left it.

That chick was lifeless, just lying there on its wet towel. I really had very little hope. I KNOW I did not rush things.

After dinner, I went to check on it and it had freed itself from the base of the shell. The next hour, it was acting like a normal chick, intermittently napping and flinging itself around the incubator.

My question is two part...

1. Does anyone have a source that is rather science-y that explains what happens to an egg from day 1 of incubation to hatch?

2. What could cause such a dramatic shrink wrap? I have never seen anything like this.

 

[Patiocoturnix]

1. Does anyone have a source that is rather science-y that explains what happens to a chicken soup to nuts as it develops and hatches?

This is probably easy to understand but I do not lol. Could you reword it just a bit? Thanks.

2. What could cause such a dramatic shrink wrap? I have never seen anything like this.

Usually shrink wrapping is caused by a sudden change in temperature and humidity whether you opened to incubator to grab chicks or what not. So high humidity in the incubator then it got opened and the humidity suddenly dropped.



All around I think you did a great job with the assist and the chick should be fine.

 

[rbc-bow-chicka]

This is probably easy to understand but I do not lol. Could you reword it just a bit? Thanks.

Usually shrink wrapping is caused by a sudden change in temperature and humidity whether you opened to incubator to grab chicks or what not. So high humidity in the incubator then it got opened and the humidity suddenly dropped.



All around I think you did a great job with the assist and the chick should be fine.

I really shouldn't post before coffee. I am rereading that and I need to go fix it. LOL.

You know the series of pictures of what goes on in an egg during incubation.... like at day 1 this happens.. then day 2 and so on? That's kind of what I'm looking for, but more in depth.

I also need to edit to add that I did not have *any* water in the incubators. I have the small 7 egg brinsea. I am in Florida, bordering on a swamp and at the start of the hatch, it was raining... like flooding rain. My last 2 hatches in last 3 months, no water. I just find it so curious that 9 were fine and this one was not (plus the one that must have just died at some point in the shell, perhaps prior to the hatcher).

I hope you are right. I have not looked in on them yet.

 

[Patiocoturnix]

You know the series of pictures of what goes on in an egg during incubation.... like at day 1 this happens.. then day 2 and so on? That's kind of what I'm looking for, but more in depth.

Ah ok yeah I know what you mean now I’ll have to see if I can find one.

 

[Patiocoturnix]

I also need to edit to add that I did not have *any* water in the incubators. I have the small 7 egg brinsea. I am in Florida, bordering on a swamp and at the start of the hatch, it was raining... like flooding rain. My last 2 hatches in last 3 months, no water. I just find it so curious that 9 were fine and this one was not (plus the one that must have just died at some point in the shell, perhaps prior to the hatcher).

Did the incubator get opened at any time after most of the chicks hatched before realizing the one was shrink wrapped? The chicks hatching causes a skyrocket in humidity so that would be why it’s so high.

 

[Patiocoturnix]

Here’s the best of the day by day ones I’ve seen so far here’s the Link if you want to check it out.

 

[rbc-bow-chicka]

Did the incubator get opened at any time after most of the chicks hatched before realizing the one was shrink wrapped? The chicks hatching causes a skyrocket in humidity so that would be why it’s so high.

Nope! The eggs remained in the dry incubator until they were moved to the hatcher. The hatcher is merely a larger brinsea incubator that is better used as a hatcher. Temp was set the same the only thing diff was water in the chamber and the humidity hovering at 65 to 70% vs dry.

I am paranoid to open incubator or hatcher... anything with water as I don't want to cause a dramatic drop. The chicks hatching took the humidity to higher 70 range. Which is why I was surprised at the lone wrapped chick.

The only thing I could think was maybe there was a microscopic hole in the shell that could not be seen and it dried that much during incubation.

 

[Patiocoturnix]

Nope! The eggs remained in the dry incubator until they were moved to the hatcher. The hatcher is merely a larger brinsea incubator that is better used as a hatcher. Temp was set the same the only thing diff was water in the chamber and the humidity hovering at 65 to 70% vs dry.

I am paranoid to open incubator or hatcher... anything with water as I don't want to cause a dramatic drop. The chicks hatching took the humidity to higher 70 range. Which is why I was surprised at the lone wrapped chick.

The only thing I could think was maybe there was a microscopic hole in the shell that could not be seen and it dried that much during incubation.

It could've been piped very small before being moved to the hatcher what day of incubation did they get moved to the hatcher?

 

[NatJ]

2. What could cause such a dramatic shrink wrap? I have never seen anything like this.

I wondered if it could be something about when you opened the incubator to take out the other chicks. But that doesn't really make sense, given that the humidity was high before and after and you were fast about it, and considering how common it is to take chicks out quicky and have no problems with later chicks that are still hatching.

I suppose it could have gotten shrink wrapped during the time you were assisting, but I can't see why the membrane would dry out in the part of the shell farthest from the opening, so that doesn't really make sense either.

So maybe something specific to that chick and it's development, or maybe just bad luck. Neither of those would be anything you can control. But you may want to keep track of which chick this was, and not breed from it when it grows up. I say this because of how late it was at hatching, not just the shrink wrapping. (Speed of development, and ability to hatch without assistance, are partly inherited.)

You said you kept finding blood when you tried to assist, so that would mean the chick was still absorbing the yolk at that time. But this was after all the other chicks had fully absorbed their yolks and finished hatching, so this one was definitely running late. That makes me wonder if it had something wrong (in addition to the shrink wrapping), or if it is just slow to develop.

 

[rbc-bow-chicka]

It could've been piped very small before being moved to the hatcher what day of incubation did they get moved to the hatcher?

19... 330 pm, to be precise. Day 21 at 330 pm was Sunday afternoon, so 2 days out. The incubators had stopped turning.