Hatch Time!

'Tis the season of plentiful fertile hatching eggs and little baby chickens galore!  There is nothing more exciting than an anticipated hatch, but we must not let our curiosity interfere with such a crucial time in a chick's life.  Opening the incubator to "grab a quick peak" could be detrimental to your hatch.  As the incubator door is opened, moist warm air escapes and is replaced by dry outside air.  Humidity is important during the entire gestation of a chick, but is never more important than during hatch time.  You will never see a hen leave her nest during the time her chicks are hatching, so do yourself and the chicks a favor and LEAVE THE INCUBATOR ALONE!  We don't open the incubator to remove newly hatched chicks until the morning of the 22nd day.  Any remaining pipped eggs can be lightly sprayed with warm water and left for another day. 

"Should I help a Struggling Chick?"

Hatching can take a long time because the chick works in small spurts punctuated by periods of rest.  If you have a chick that doesn't progress as fast as the others, or doesn't progress at all past the pip stage you may ask yourself whether or not you should intervene.  This is a personal choice, as some people believe that nature should be left alone to take its course.  I have read several times that a chick that is strong and healthy enough to pip is usually strong enough to hatch unless humidity or temperature fluctuations occur (usually from someone overly disturbing the incubator.)  The person keeps "checking" on the chicks and wonders why the chicks aren't progressing so they step in to "help" the chick.  When some of the shell is removed to "help" the chick or "make a bigger hole" the chick gets disoriented and in a sort loses its place (is my way of looking at it) and a lot of the time doesn't progress any further. This chick may end up needing to be assisted further since his progress was disturbed. Also removing a hatching chick in progress exposes the membrane to the dry air outside. This causes the membrane to dry and it then acts as shrink wrap around the chick making hatching very difficult (and painful if the membrane dries to its down feathers). The longer the chick takes to hatch from the point of pipping, the dryer the membrane becomes and the chick can get stuck. If the chick hasn't hatched by itself within 24 hours you will need to intervene and assist the chick or it will become exhausted and will eventually die.

 Assisting With a Hatch

Things you'll need...

• Spray bottle with warm water set on fine mist.
• Tweezers 
• Paper towels

Spritz the egg with a fine mist of warm water using a water bottle to moisten the membrane. From the pip hole, gently peel small pieces of shell and membrane in a circle around the egg simulating the way a chick hatches naturally.  If the membrane is stuck to the chick, moisten the dried membrane with water before peeling it off the chick as it can be painful.  Tweezers can be used to peel the membrane away and off the chick. 

When you peel the eggshell off, the outer membrane may still be in place. It is a white looking material and sometimes comes off with the eggshell. The inner membrane is below the outer membrane and is gooey, translucent and has a pinkish red tint.  You have to take extra special care while peeling or cutting as the inner membrane has a network of vessels that contains the chick's blood supply if the chick is not yet ready to hatch. Work slowly and the blood in the vessels will be absorbed by the chick through its umbilical cord when it is ready. A little bleeding is not bad and it will not harm the chick, but a large blood loss could kill it or make it very weak. 

 

If the membrane is still vascular (vessels or bleeding noticed) blot any blood with a paper towel, spritz the egg with a mist of warm water being careful not to drown the chick, place the egg back in the incubator and begin again in a few hours. Once you are have peeled the shell and membrane around the egg almost all the way around, allow the chick to kick itself out. If the chick is weak or it is stuck you can remove the top cap of the egg, and gently assist the chick's head out. I always let my chicks kick themselves the rest of the way out from this point and they do just fine. I have assisted many many chicks using this method and have NEVER lost one. =]

Good luck and happy hatching!