[Rosehill]

Hi,

I'm sure you have all heard this all before or experienced this but I am so worried I feel sick!
This is my first time hatching eggs, so am not experienced to make the right decision.

My eggs are in a brinsea Mini advanced incubator and reached day 21 today. I came down at 7.30 am to find 3 of the eggs had pipped and were cheeping. Well it's now 8pm and they are still chirping every now and again - they haven't zipped and the hole hasn't got much bigger. I can see the membrane under the shell and it's White.

I'm really worried the membrane has gone hard and they can't get out. It's taken all my will power not to open the incubator to pick off some of the shell!

I don't know if I should wait until the morning and see what's happened and then try and help or help now or what?
All I know is I've been reading all sorts of things on the Internet which has me seesawing from they will be fine as it can take 24 hrs to I need to dive right in and help NOW!!!

Any advice please

[jaykay]

Spray them with water. Pick off a bit of a shell. If the membrane bleeds, they're not ready. If ok, carry on slowly. Sometimes they come out but aren't quite 'finished off' at the belly button. If like this, don't pull it all off, you'll make them bleed badly. Leave them with the membranes attached to themselves and the egg. They'll absorb and 'finish off' in due course.

[little blue]

what's the humidity?
sounds like perhaps the membranes have dried out... in which case the chicks will need some help.  either by upping the humidity - adding damp cloths, or helping them (VERY) carefully out of the shells.

I've helped and not helped, with some succes and some failures.  Its "just one of those things" (I hate that phrase, but its often true)
if the chicks have not absorbed the yolk (if they have a blobby gunk at the back) then they are less likely to survive, I'm afraid.  But you probably wont see this til they are nearly out.

Its very upsetting when they dont make it, but all a learning experience for you.
(I confess, we lost all of our first attempt, and most of the second, as the instructions were so poor the humidity was totally wrong)
good luck!
 

Jaykay - you posted a much more succinct reoky while I was still two-finger-typing!   

[manian]

we couldn't keep the humidity up in our inci, we had to spray and help most of our turkeys,
those we didn't help didn't make it ...... so i would pick slowly,,,,,,,,,and carefully
good luck
Mx

[CarolW]

Hi, We had this a few weeks ago with one hatching chick, she was chirping away constantly from 5pm and 20 hrs later she was still not much further on - (in the meantime another chick hatched within 4hrs).  We couldn't just leave her so we took the shell off tiny bit by tiny bit, she did bleed a little on her head and she did look a right sight but she survived and she is lovely now. Good luckxx

[Rosehill]

Thank you all for your advice. It's now the morning and I've been down to look and one egg has hatched! It's a very gorgeous coloured chick - dark with a yellow chest (the parents are a mix - dad is a lavender Pekin and mum(s) a bluebelle) so I'm very excited.

I think I may need to look at helping the other two eggs that haven't progressed. Will me opening the incubator to get those eggs out cause the same issue with the remaining two eggs that pipped late yesterday?

Also the chick has rolled the eggs around does that matter that now the pipped bits are not at the top? And one last question - will one chick out be making enough noise and encouragement to get the other chicks working harder ?

Sorry for being so silly - I get nature is tough for a reason and i can cope with that but when I can hear and see them so know they are ok I would hate to let them to die when all they needed was a little help, which their mum may have done if I'd had a broody.

Right best get myself ready, as once the children are awake that's it - they will be so excited!

[Brucklay]

Opening the incubator will have an effect on the humidity but I've found putting a hot damp cloth in the incubator helped get it back up quickly. I hatched call ducks and all went to plan when we were in the caravan and the hatch just completed was not so good - definately a humidity error on my part as all were grown - so I guess the caravan was pretty damp and good for the incubator. I helped the call duck just a wee bit enough for them to get their heads out, and they do respond to 'chirping' makes them move and that in turn makes the blood vessels dry up - good luck

[jaykay]

Good advice about raising the humidity, cos opening the incubator will reduce it.

I would turn the eggs with the pipped bits upwards - you can what's happening as well as the chick knowing which way is up. Yes, one chick cheeping will encourage the others out 

I always help out if I can see and her them but they're not making progress hours after pipping. Generally it works out ok 

[Rosehill]

What a day! I currently have 5 out of 5 chicks in the incubator 
But it has def been stressful! The first 4 came out by themselves with no problem - in fact very quickly once they got going!
But no 5 had a real issue. He hadn't progressed so I removed a line of shell all the way around the circumference (like they zip) but after half a day he hadn't done anything, so I removed the outer membrane (very tentatively) but this just caused the other chicks to peck at him! And then he started doing the 'im going to die' gulps of air! Which threw me into a panic! So I looked up on the Internet and found a utube video on how to remove the membrane and get the chick out.

So very very nervously I removed the membrane until he rolled out! Then I saw blood coming from his umbilical area! And thought a few choice swear words! We put him in the incubator and had to keep moving the older chicks off him/her as he just lay there exhausted! For quite a while! I completely freaked about the blood - thinking we were going to be watching him die but it stopped and he is up and moving about (wobbly- but after a long time being stuck I'm not surprised!) and actually the first chick that hatched by itself had a lot of blood on the tissue - possibly the same amount as chick 5 (known as blip).

I'm not stupid enough to think that he def will be ok now but I've given him a better chance then he seemed to have so I am happy. Fingers crossed he survives the night and next few days but I am currently happy.

I've read people say hatching eggs is addictive but I can safely say it has been more stressful then having a baby! So I'm not sure I'll want to do it again (I have one more egg to go though that is due on Sunday - hopefully that will be easy)

Thanks for all your advice and hopefully all my  gorgeous coloured chicks (greys and dark with yellow bits) will
grow to be lovely girlies (not all boys please )

K

[jaykay]

Well done. He/she will probably be fine now he's out - they usually are 

[melodrama]

I'm happy for you x

[jaykay]

PS it is addictive. You'll never be as nervous again - and chicks are lovely  And as for ducklings   

[Roxy]

Pleased everything turned out well in the end.

Like anything, egg hatching can go well, or not so well.  Unfortunately, you do have to be prepared for disappointments, but when they all hatch like yours have, this makes up for it!!

[Rosehill]

I think you are right I definitely won't be as nervous next time (oh did I say next time   ) I'm not an expert but feel like I've gained a WHOLE lot of knowledge Very quickly.
I'm sure I'll forget very quickly the pressure felt not to let the chicks die from anything I did - but I was lucky this time that none died maybe I'd feel differently if it did have a sad result.

Now onto the fun of trying to decide who's going to be what sex .....

[jaykay]

They may still be young enough to get an idea from their wing feathers.

Stretch out one little wing and look at the feathers growing at the edge. If they are two distinct lengths, long and short, alternately, that's a pullet. If they aren't as long overall but all the feathers are about the same lengths, that's a cockerel.

The pullets will continue to 'feather up' faster, so for example, they'll grow their little tails first too.