Knowing When to Assist During Hatching

Edited by VideoGuru:videoguru.page.link/Best

[@Calcifurr]

This really helped me, thank you. Mama hen abandoned her eggs. Had to learn how to be a mama to baby chicks really quick. This helped me be the best mama I could me for them. Thank you 💗

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

You're welcome! ❤️ Does my heart good to know it was helpful for you. Those silly momma hens.....it can be very frustrating

[@BigBangGamers]

I breed Seramas as a hobby and I have to help many of them, but I get a high percentage hatch rate (~90%). I agree with everything said here. I would add a candidate for help would be if the beak had piped but the chick could not get it's beak back inside to zip. If the chick is crying loudly and not making progress, I think it is safe to help at that point. You just help carefully and slowly.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Totally agree with helping in that situation, and thank you for pointing that out.

[@prettybirdthepetgoosefrien8155]

Curious, how much time before the progress is obviously lacking?

[@BigBangGamers]

@@prettybirdthepetgoosefrien8155 I expect the bird to be out of shell with in 24 hours of pip. Usually they will zip in 12 hours or less of pipping. As long as they have a good pip and have an air passage way, then the chick should be OK. If I don't see any zipping after say 12 hours and I do hear the chick crying inside the egg, then I start to help it zip. Tweezers or a dental pick is a good tool to chipping away a path around, being VERY careful not to poke the bird, and preferably working at the edge of the air area at top of egg. If you see any blood in the membrane as you are zipping for the chick, then stop and return it to the incubator and wait a few hours and try to help some more. It is something you have to develop a gut feel for. You don't want to rush to help the chick, but I don't want to see the chick die either. Generally if the chick is crying loudly in the egg, it wants out! This is just my opinion, and I am not an Avian vet. This is just what I do and I have about 90+ % hatch success rate with my Seramas. I have perhaps helped over 50 birds out hatching so far over the last few years.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

@@prettybirdthepetgoosefrien8155 I would say when you see a marked slowdown in either movement or sound from the chick and/or no progress in zipping. Every situation is different.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

@@prettybirdthepetgoosefrien8155 time will vary, but I would say over several hours

[@paiiininthebuttt2477]

Great video. I do the same. I just pick the top half of the shell off and leave it to rest/sleep. Sometimes they just lie in the incubator for 24 hours before they realise they’ve ‘hatched’. Like you, I never pull the chick out - that would kill them.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Thank you. I am happy to hear that I am not alone in this way of thinking about hatching help.

[@zodiacgardener2669]

Thank you so much for this video this is very useful information I have little quail chicks ready to hatch and one who has pipped but hasn’t absorb the yolk yet and just has been chilling yarning being super cute but I have kept eye because the hole was pretty big I have been up for hours now monitoring baby. Thanks for your content ❤

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

You are welcome! Thank you for the very positive comment, and I am thankful that it has been helpful for you.

[@thedouglaspodcast]

Can you update?! 😭♥️

[@prettybirdthepetgoosefrien8155]

Funny how ducks and geese LOVE when the waterhose has a leak 😅

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Yes! 😂

[@rmalus10297]

I just had 2 eggs make it to hatching a few days ago. It was day 25 for my ducklings and I saw the external pip. Concerned, I snapped a picture and shared it on the fb group I was on. I got shamed left and right for opening the incubator for the pictures, so I never opened it after that. One baby needed help, and I didn't know to help it. I was just scared to open that incubator again. I had "leave it be, it takes 48 hours" stuck in my head. That one ended up dying and I was literally watching as it took its last breath. When I realized it stopped moving and pushing on the shell, I took it out and tried to carefully and quickly break into the shell. It was too late though. 😢 I'm still upset at how close it was.

[@thatdamhorserescue]

Facebook groups will crucify anyone that doesn't follow incubator instruction manuals lol look at it like this ,,,, hens do get off of their eggs, to go eat and drink at least twice a day, leaving the eggs for 5-10 minutes. I know this because I got a coop camera and watch my broody hens like hawks lol they definitely get off of the eggs to take care of themselves at a minimum twice a day, contrary to what people say. With that being said, opening an incubator a few times a day to check on eggs, for less time than a hen gets off of her eggs, those babies will be fine darlin. Know it alls never know anything 😂😂😂 if they had seen how much I checked my hatching eggs, I may as well be Jesus for chickens ready to be crucified on the incubator cross 😂😂 and my chicks are fine. Nature does not intend for those chicks to be in 100 degrees nonstop in the first 48 hours, the mom gets up, they move around themselves and aren't under the hen the entire time, allot of times they're just up against the mama. If FB group peoples chicks are dying after being checked on a few times, being exposed to 75 degrees for a couple of seconds/minutes, then those chicks were doomed from the beginning anyways.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

I have never adhered to anyone else's opinions. I end up doing things incorrectly many times. Life is about constant education. I will tell you that I have opened the incubator many times near the end of incubation for multiple reasons. I always go with my gut feeling. Do not feel bad, just step forward and apply the learning to the next experience.

[@thedouglaspodcast]

😭💔 my worst fear! I’ve got lil quail chicks swimmin around in their eggs rn on day 6 of incubation and I’m already getting nervous of any issues that may arise 🥺 I hope you don’t feel bad or like you didn’t anything wrong.. like those people probably assumed! It’s too bad nobody gave you helpful advice like the lady in this vid 😓 if she had been around, I bet the duckling would’ve made it 🥺 I think your intuition was telling you the duckie needed help 😭

[@moongypsyguerrero1925]

How cute.Thanks for helping him

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

You're welcome, and thanks for watching.

[@AJayK610-18]

Amazing video.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Thank you!!

[@ajalicea1091]

I have 2 game hens who are sharing the egg setting. I want to see how many, but with game fowl chickens it can cause problems. Getting excited to see the chicks. how

[@thatdamhorserescue]

I have a question. But lemme explain before the question lol i had two broody hens, and i let them brood for a couple of weeks, then i took the eggs i knew were getting ready, as i dont have a extra brooding coop that doesnt already have 6 week old pullets in it, so despite me wanting to watch my first batch of now adult chicks raise their own, i ordered a amazon incubator and did dry hatching. Within 48 hours, 6 out of 7 eggs hatched. I had to help 3 of them, my girls have very thick shells, i had to put muscle in a couple times to break the shells with tweezers. The last egg tho... by that point i was like ok lemme spray clean water in the egg a couple times a day, maybe its just the egg shell needs to made softer? But 3 days later it finally pipped. It was very weak compared to the others. I saw immediately the sack membrane was still on the chick, and the sack looked thick compared to the others. Ive seen horse foals have the same kind of sack after being exposed to fescue grass mold spores, and it can cause suffocating in the birth canal. This eggs sack looked exactly the same. Blood vessels yes but the sack was thick and gel like. Then, i saw what looked like to me, the clear part of yolk starting to solidify in a pan, turning off white solid like frying a egg in a pan, but it was in the egg around the chick. I knew this wasn't right lol i couldnt think of anything why other than me spraying that water. I let it be for 12 hours, zero progress made for the chick, the sack and fried yolk hardeneing around the poor chick, so i zipped it, left it, zero progress. Pulled the zipped part off and slowly started pealing back the sack and white hardening yolk off of the chick, with its right wing and head first. Left it again, all that happened was instead of the fluff drying up getting fluffy like the others had, the fluff stayed wet looking and hardened completely, freezing that poor chick in place worse than floating in the sack unhatched. I did what i could, but again, 6 hours later, zero progress. The sack was not shrinking, the yolk was not absorbing. I saw the chick started gasping for air, i knew it wouldnt survive. I went ahead and did the kindest thing i could think of, and pulled it out letting it bleed out quickly instead of gasping for hours dying slowly. Broke my heart honestly. Beautiful silver blue, only male out of the 7 eggs, all of them would be considered olive/green Eggers, except the one that came out of a pink, she could be a "plum" egger looking at the color tree chart. Anyways, my questions would be.... could the water have caused the egg sack to be like it was? Could it have been caused by when broody mama was laying on it, poop was left too long on the egg before i could wipe it off? Or was it just some random occurrence? Did i do wrong to try and help it? Was it pipping too soon?

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

You are probably correct in thinking with the sprayed on water, the humidity became too high. Hatching has a steep learning curve. Oh, the mistakes that I have made. Move on. Keep trying. Each hatch has it's own differences and challenges.

[@javierarellano7444]

I don’t have an incubator. Two chicks seemed to be doing fine but ended up dying on me I’m sure because they weren’t warm enough. They never reached the point of moving around on their own after I assisted removing the shell. There was no bleeding or damage to the chicks but they ended up dying. Are the chicks still fine to be put back under the hen even if they aren’t moving around like the other chicks? Mom moved locations fyi.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

It is possible they were already too cold when you found them if the hen left the nest for a new location. I probably would have tucked them under the hen and observed what she did. If a hen abandons fully formed embryos, there could be a reason, she may have realized they were dead or dying. Some hens, however, are just bad mothers and abandon the nest. Tough call on putting weak chicks under momma. Sometimes it seems to perk them up and sometimes they are just overrun and die. I have done both based on my gut feeling with situation. Always a tough call.

[@javierarellano7444]

@@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109 thank you for that info. It helps.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

@@javierarellano7444 you're welcome!

[@anxiouscrab23]

your duckling looks just like my babies! are they khaki/blues swedish cross? we have 6, and another on the way now. 4 are the same coloring as you showed and we also believ they are females. the two supposed males are all chocolate. just wondering where this was a bit ago now, if your theory proved true?

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Yes, the theory worked in my instance. Unsure.....definitely Swedish in there, but I have a several Khaki, Rouen, and other crossed drakes so I cannot say 100 percent.

[@Dragon_Tamer_kenlonb30]

im your 830th sub

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Cool!! Thank you!! 🦆🦃🌱🌻🐥

[@johoney5458]

thank you. very interesting. now getting some quail eggs to hatch. Do you have any info on how to prevent sprawling legs. That happened to 3 of 22 chickens I hatched previously. Liked the video very much. Have a blessed day.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

I really don't feel well versed on prevention of spraddle legs. There are a lot of opinions regarding that. I do know about correction. While I have not had that many, I have tried multiple methods to correct. Some can cause inadvertent leg breakage. I like the teacup method and no binding. Glad you liked the video, and you have a blessed day as well.

[@omshomestead]

Hey. Humidity is important for sprawled leg. Look up the heat temp for hatching.

[@woofgangwalkers297]

So if there are blood vessels, would that be indicative of an early hatch? I had a clutch of eggs and most of them died due to having to take my ducks eggs away from a certain area. So with the constant temperature change and humidity levels they quit. So far from 10 eggs, 1 is good (assited)...the other is having a problem with balance so i put it in a sock, this third one looked like it was having intermittent stops of breathing so i got it out, blood vessels were in the way. It looks healthy and is breathing normal but still in the fetal position attached to the vessels and egg. It was a crap shot knowing when these ducks are suppossed to hatch but i knew how long my female had been gone so i did my best.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Hatches can tear at your heart. Sometimes you just do your best....at the moment. Every single hatch is slightly different and reasons for assisting are varied. I would leave the little one that you assisted in the incubator for a while. Is is still in the process of absorbing the yolk? That is usually the reason that the blood vessels are still active. It can be left in the incubator until yolk has absorbed and unbilicus closes. After which it will need time to dry and fluff. This could easily take 24 or more hours. The yolk will sustain the hatchling for 48 hours after it is absorbed.

[@user-xb8qr5bw5r]

Thank you so much for this video. I am hearing chirping now and I’m feeling the stress and the excitement. In the past I’ve had a broody hen to do all the work. This time I just have to be brave. Again, thank you so much!

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

@@user-xb8qr5bw5r you are welcome!!! Let us know how the hatch goes!

[@jessicadrake2170]

I have jersey giants hatching for the first time and it has been awful. Almost all have died and the only ones that have lived I assisted but there was blood, even after leaving them in the egg half pipped still a lot of blood, why is that? When I see blood vessels I put coconut oil on it and put back in the incubator.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

@@jessicadrake2170 Without seeing the eggs it is hard to know for sure, but generally if there are live blood vessels in the membrane the hatchling is still in the process of absorbing the yolk and is not quite ready to emerge from the shell

[@moongypsyguerrero1925]

They're cute 🐤🐣

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Yes, they sure are. Thank you!

[@bobbybrown840]

💙

[@moongypsyguerrero1925]

I like little Dewey

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Thank you! He us one of my favorite drakes....smart and personable. He will be a year old soon!

[@AxomReaper]

Hey i hope u reply me... I feed my hen layer feed and have strong shell eggs.. Will these eggs be hatched successfully without helping the chick to break through the eggs???

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

I think they will be able to pip and zip the egg shell just fine.

[@Knitterbug]

I have a couple that pipped, but only a little hole and I haven’t seen movement in about 8 hours. Is that normal?

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Is the beak visible? Can you see breathing? That is a little long, but they do take breaks.

[@Knitterbug]

@@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109 No, I haven’t seen a beak since this morning right after it poked through. I wondered of I should give it until morning then intervene? They are quail, my first hatch, and I have heard they are vigorous hatchers, so it’s making me a little worried!

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

I have never hatched quail, so I am not familiar with their hatching process. What you describe is definitely suspect. I assume there are other eggs in the incubator as well.....what is their status? If they were all set at the same time, and the others have hatched, I would definitely very carefully pull back a small amount of the egg so you can see what is going on. If no others have hatched it may just be an early pip and I would let it rest for a while

[@NYMusic89563]

If you candle it won’t it Shrink wrap it?

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

No, many will even do a dry hatch, only adding humidity toward the end of the incubation. Typically when I see shrink wrapping is when the chick pips and zips partway and the membrane dries too much before they finish the process, which cements them into position

[@farhad6365]

what is the avarage time of fully hatch from the first pip(small hole).....

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Hatch time can vary a lot. It would be difficult to say for sure. For a normal hatch, I would guess 24 hours

[@farhad6365]

@@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109 yes... you are right.... thankyou... my chicken egg just hatched today(1am IST).... and most probably it first piped the outer shell yesterday between 12am - 4am(btw i noticed it at 7am yesterday).... so it typically takes around 24h if the temperature and humidity is ok and if the chick is healthy......

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

@farhad6365 Happy that you had a successful hatch.

[@shanasherali5007]

Hello I need to see the video where you done a duckling..?

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

I just posted one this morning. I hope it helps.

[@I_am_Katsu]

I recently had a 3 day old hatchling die ): 1 survived from 2 that hatched and I have 2 more hatching right now

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I sure do hope the other 2 hatch safely.

[@I_am_Katsu]

@@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109 one just hatched,1 more to go. I hatch and raise fighting roosters so It's really sad to see a fighter go so early like the one I mentioned.

[@Viola5501]

Do you leave the eggs with the hen while they’re hatching.

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

If the hen is continuing to sit the nest, yes. In this case the nest and egg were abandoned and I was forced to let them die in shell of put them in the incubator

[@AJayK610-18]

At least you describe the "pip" and the "zipping"

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Very important to use correct terminalogy

[@AJayK610-18]

@@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109 no not really, as long as they come out of shell. But it is nice to know the true meaning.

[@imsoz7741]

Iv been hearing scratching noises from my duck egg since this morning but nothing has happened I can hear it peep alot but I don’t think it internally pipped yet it’s almost been 10 hours what should I do?

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Sorry for the delay. There is scratching, peeping and other tapping noises that are normally heard for a day or two prior to the internal pip.

[@NotHaunted...]

They can stay in the incubator for 2 days

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

If they are in the hatching process, yes. It takes a while for the yolk to be absorbed. After the yolk is absorbed and veins in the membrane have dried up and / or they are hatched the yolk will sustain the hatchling for about two day. Once they have hatched and dried I take them out of the incubator

[@moongypsyguerrero1925]

She should have demonstrated while she's talking about it

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Yes, hindsight us always twenty twenty, unfortunately making the video on assisted hatching was an afterthought to the video.....there is a good chance of me making another one in the future and narrating as I go.

[@CHEZZYNIPSTERZ]

NEVER ASSIST

[@findingjoyonasmallfarm5109]

Incorrect. I assist when, in my assessment, it is necessary to intervene.

[@MrsV18]

I’ve had to assist two chicks that reached the 24 hour mark after pipping and still had not zipped. My hens lay VERY thick eggs that are difficult for the chicks to zip through. They are a week old now and happy and thriving. Sometimes assisting is necessary if it’s a matter of life or death.